Credit Agricole S A Cuts Stock Position in AutoZone, Inc. $AZO

Key Points

• Credit Agricole S A has reduced its stock holdings in AutoZone, Inc. by 41.3%, leaving it with 2,029 shares valued at approximately $7.7 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including BI Asset Management and Korea Investment CORP, increased their stakes in AutoZone during the same quarter, indicating mixed sentiment among institutional investors.
• AutoZone's stock has received positive ratings from analysts, with target prices ranging from $3,740 to $4,850, reflecting optimism about its future performance.

Credit Agricole S A cut its holdings in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO - Free Report) by 41.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,029 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,425 shares during the quarter. Credit Agricole S A's holdings in AutoZone were worth $7,736,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 86.7% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 2,587 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,864,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 7.2% in the first quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 74 shares of the company's stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 5 shares in the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP grew its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 98.3% in the first quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 13,519 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,545,000 after purchasing an additional 6,700 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 100.0% in the first quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 532 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,028,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 33.6% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 187 shares of the company's stock valued at $713,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. 92.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AZO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,740.00 to $4,050.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Truist Financial set a $3,995.00 price target on AutoZone in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. UBS Group raised their price target on AutoZone from $4,025.00 to $4,260.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $4,200.00 price target on AutoZone and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on AutoZone from $4,192.00 to $4,850.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AutoZone has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $4,101.29.

AutoZone Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE:AZO opened at $4,128.6070 on Friday. AutoZone, Inc. has a twelve month low of $2,898.57 and a twelve month high of $4,187.39. The company has a market cap of $69.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $3,800.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3,686.55.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 27th. The company reported $35.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $37.07 by ($1.71). AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 56.07% and a net margin of 13.56%.The business had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.41 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $36.69 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Jamere Jackson sold 2,612 shares of AutoZone stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,728.05, for a total transaction of $9,737,666.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,591,877.35. This trade represents a 85.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Richard Craig Smith sold 3,000 shares of AutoZone stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,875.90, for a total value of $11,627,700.00. Following the sale, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 33,862 shares of company stock valued at $126,058,789 in the last three months. 2.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About AutoZone

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.

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