AutoZone, Inc. $AZO Shares Sold by Okabena Investment Services Inc.

Okabena Investment Services Inc. cut its stake in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 3.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 732 shares of the company’s stock after selling 29 shares during the period. Okabena Investment Services Inc.’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $2,791,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZO. AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new position in AutoZone during the first quarter worth $27,000. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AutoZone by 66.7% in the first quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 4 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AutoZone in the first quarter valued at about $44,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AutoZone in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AutoZone in the first quarter valued at about $46,000. 92.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on AZO. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Bank of America raised shares of AutoZone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $3,900.00 to $4,800.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Roth Capital set a $4,135.00 target price on shares of AutoZone and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $4,000.00 target price (up from $3,750.00) on shares of AutoZone in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of AutoZone from $4,060.00 to $4,250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AutoZone has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,101.29.

AutoZone Price Performance

NYSE:AZO opened at $4,203.67 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $3,843.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $3,705.84. AutoZone, Inc. has a 1-year low of $2,898.57 and a 1-year high of $4,216.02. The firm has a market cap of $70.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.38.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) 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). AutoZone had a net margin of 13.56% and a negative return on equity of 56.07%. The business had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.41 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $36.69 EPS. AutoZone’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AutoZone news, VP Richard Craig Smith sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP K. Michelle Borninkhof sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,597.13, for a total value of $2,697,847.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,460,434.78. This trade represents a 64.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,862 shares of company stock worth $126,058,789 in the last ninety days. 2.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.