Financial Counselors Inc. Makes New Investment in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Financial Counselors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 81 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $309,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 435,031.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 770,182 shares of the company's stock worth $2,936,535,000 after acquiring an additional 770,005 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 324,616 shares of the company's stock worth $1,039,421,000 after acquiring an additional 17,518 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AutoZone in the 4th quarter worth about $834,556,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 204,822 shares of the company's stock worth $655,840,000 after acquiring an additional 26,036 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 204,748 shares of the company's stock worth $655,603,000 after acquiring an additional 36,916 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.74% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AZO. Wells Fargo & Company set a $4,200.00 target price on AutoZone and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Mizuho upped their price objective on AutoZone from $3,740.00 to $4,050.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $3,811.00 price objective on AutoZone in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $3,950.00 price objective on AutoZone in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $4,087.00.

AutoZone Price Performance

AutoZone stock traded up $60.50 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $3,766.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 125,984 shares, compared to its average volume of 130,828. The stock has a market cap of $63.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $3,704.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $3,565.22. AutoZone, Inc. has a 12 month low of $2,894.02 and a 12 month high of $3,916.81.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Jamere Jackson sold 2,612 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,728.05, for a total transaction of $9,737,666.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 427 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,591,877.35. This represents a 85.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP K. Michelle Borninkhof sold 750 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,597.13, for a total transaction of $2,697,847.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 406 shares in the company, valued at $1,460,434.78. This represents a 64.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 35,662 shares of company stock valued at $131,999,089. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AutoZone 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.