Insider Selling: AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) Chairman Sells 27,500 Shares of Stock

AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO - Get Free Report) Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 27,500 shares of AutoZone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,708.93, for a total transaction of $101,995,575.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 8,546 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,696,515.78. The trade was a 76.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

AutoZone Stock Performance

Shares of AZO stock traded down $49.13 on Friday, reaching $3,634.34. 119,857 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 128,988. The company has a market cap of $60.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $3,695.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $3,509.18. AutoZone, Inc. has a 1 year low of $2,801.49 and a 1 year high of $3,916.81.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 27th. The company reported $35.36 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $37.07 by ($1.71). The company had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.41 billion. AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 53.89% and a net margin of 14.18%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $36.69 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AZO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $4,200.00 target price on shares of AutoZone and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of AutoZone from $4,192.00 to $4,850.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,634.00 to $3,763.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $3,811.00 target price on shares of AutoZone in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $3,700.00 target price on shares of AutoZone in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $4,072.24.

Institutional Trading of AutoZone

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in AutoZone by 435,031.1% during the first 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. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in AutoZone by 482,040.2% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 419,462 shares of the company's stock worth $1,343,117,000 after acquiring an additional 419,375 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in AutoZone during the fourth quarter worth about $834,556,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in AutoZone during the fourth quarter worth about $471,629,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in AutoZone during the first quarter worth about $442,530,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.74% 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.