450 Shares in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) Bought by Banque Cantonale Vaudoise

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise invested approximately $1.7 million in AutoZone, purchasing 450 shares during the first quarter.
• Insiders have recently sold a significant number of shares, with sales totaling over $126 million in the last quarter.
• Analysts have increased price targets for AutoZone, with a consensus target of $4,087 and a majority rating of "Buy".

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new stake in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 450 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,716,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AZO. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in AutoZone by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 89 shares of the company's stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC grew its stake in shares of AutoZone by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 61 shares of the company's stock worth $197,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the period. Comerica Bank grew its stake in shares of AutoZone by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 4,262 shares of the company's stock worth $13,647,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of AutoZone by 82.6% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 170,216 shares of the company's stock worth $545,033,000 after purchasing an additional 77,015 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of AutoZone by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 66,016 shares of the company's stock worth $211,383,000 after purchasing an additional 7,586 shares during the period. 92.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AZO. Bank of America raised shares of AutoZone from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $3,900.00 to $4,800.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $4,100.00 price target (up from $3,850.00) on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of AutoZone from $3,740.00 to $4,050.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Evercore ISI set a $3,950.00 price objective on shares of AutoZone in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $4,200.00 price objective on shares of AutoZone and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $4,087.00.

AutoZone Stock Performance

AZO traded up $89.99 on Friday, reaching $3,858.37. 104,922 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 111,330. AutoZone, Inc. has a twelve month low of $2,898.57 and a twelve month high of $3,919.50. The company's 50 day moving average is $3,707.59 and its 200-day moving average is $3,615.00. The company has a market cap of $64.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.11, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.38.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 27th. The company reported $35.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $37.07 by ($1.71). AutoZone had a net margin of 13.56% and a negative return on equity of 56.07%. The firm had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.41 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $36.69 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP K. Michelle Borninkhof sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,597.13, for a total transaction of $2,697,847.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 406 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,460,434.78. This represents a 64.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Richard Craig Smith sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,875.90, for a total value of $11,627,700.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 2,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,337,007.50. This trade represents a 50.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 33,862 shares of company stock valued at $126,058,789. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company's stock.

AutoZone Company Profile

AutoZone, Inc retails and distributes automotive replacement parts and accessories in the United States, Mexico, and Brazil. The company provides various products for cars, sport utility vehicles, vans, and light trucks, including new and remanufactured automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories, and non-automotive products.