Patton Fund Management Inc. Buys New Shares in AutoZone, Inc. $AZO

Key Points

• Patton Fund Management Inc. acquired a new stake in AutoZone, purchasing 60 shares valued at approximately $223,000 during Q2.
• AutoZone shares opened at $4,271.60, and the company has reported earnings of $48.71 per share, missing estimates by ($1.81).
• Analysts have raised price targets for AutoZone, with Jefferies increasing their target from $4,255 to $4,750 and Goldman Sachs from $3,894 to $4,090.

Patton Fund Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 60 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 89 shares of the company's stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 2,954 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,267,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Kirr Marbach & Co. LLC IN boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Kirr Marbach & Co. LLC IN now owns 7,761 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,591,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 98.3% during the 1st quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 829 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,161,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of AutoZone during the 1st quarter valued at about $545,000. Institutional investors own 92.74% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AutoZone

In other news, VP John Scott Murphy sold 2,860 shares of AutoZone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4,175.70, for a total transaction of $11,942,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 1,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,194,570.80. The trade was a 69.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 transaction of $11,627,700.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 2,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,337,007.50. The trade was a 50.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.10% of the company's stock.

AutoZone Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of AZO opened at $4,271.60 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $71.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.41. AutoZone, Inc. has a twelve month low of $2,980.10 and a twelve month high of $4,388.11. The company has a 50 day moving average of $4,090.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3,826.15.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, September 23rd. The company reported $48.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $50.52 by ($1.81). The firm had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.26 billion. AutoZone had a net margin of 13.19% and a negative return on equity of 60.49%. AutoZone's revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $51.58 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on AZO. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of AutoZone from $4,255.00 to $4,750.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,894.00 to $4,090.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,740.00 to $4,050.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $4,750.00 target price (down from $4,800.00) on shares of AutoZone in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on shares of AutoZone from $4,155.00 to $4,811.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $4,538.21.

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.

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