Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC Buys Shares of 6,493 AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new stake in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,493 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,791,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AZO. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of AutoZone by 482,040.2% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 419,462 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,343,117,000 after acquiring an additional 419,375 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of AutoZone by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 324,616 shares of the company's stock valued at $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 fourth quarter valued at about $834,556,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of AutoZone by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 213,575 shares of the company's stock valued at $683,867,000 after acquiring an additional 13,771 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of AutoZone by 82.6% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 170,216 shares of the company's stock valued at $545,033,000 after acquiring an additional 77,015 shares during the last quarter. 92.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on AZO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised AutoZone from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $3,044.00 to $3,811.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Bank of America boosted their price target on AutoZone from $3,600.00 to $3,700.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. DA Davidson raised AutoZone from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $3,500.00 to $4,192.00 in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho boosted their price target on AutoZone from $3,600.00 to $3,740.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on AutoZone from $3,634.00 to $3,763.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AutoZone presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $3,724.00.

AutoZone Price Performance

AZO stock traded down $29.37 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $3,733.23. The company had a trading volume of 32,480 shares, compared to its average volume of 131,319. AutoZone, Inc. has a 1 year low of $2,728.97 and a 1 year high of $3,916.81. The company has a market capitalization of $62.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $3,609.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $3,370.89.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 4th. The company reported $28.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $29.11 by ($0.82). AutoZone had a net margin of 14.18% and a negative return on equity of 53.89%. The business had revenue of $3.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.98 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at AutoZone

In related news, CEO Philip B. Daniele sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,800.01, for a total value of $7,600,020.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $619,401.63. This represents a 92.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Richard Craig Smith sold 2,850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,610.00, for a total transaction of $10,288,500.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 2,924 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,555,640. This represents a 49.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,521 shares of company stock worth $42,177,331 in the last three months. 2.10% of the stock is owned by 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.