Bridges Investment Management Inc. Grows Holdings in AutoZone, Inc. $AZO

Bridges Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,335 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 103 shares during the quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $30,941,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AutoZone by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,759,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,709,967,000 after buying an additional 13,643 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of AutoZone by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 936,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,570,296,000 after buying an additional 65,368 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of AutoZone by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 349,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,331,870,000 after buying an additional 24,701 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AutoZone by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 281,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,045,709,000 after buying an additional 10,456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its stake in shares of AutoZone by 7,358.8% during the 2nd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 243,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $902,929,000 after buying an additional 239,970 shares during the last quarter. 92.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AZO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on AutoZone in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $4,741.00 target price for the company. Zacks Research lowered AutoZone from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $4,750.00 price target (down from $4,800.00) on shares of AutoZone in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on AutoZone from $4,100.00 to $4,600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of AutoZone in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4,544.68.

AutoZone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AZO opened at $4,031.45 on Thursday. AutoZone, Inc. has a 1-year low of $2,980.10 and a 1-year high of $4,388.11. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $4,152.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3,862.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.65 billion, a PE ratio of 27.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.40.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last issued 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). AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 60.49% and a net margin of 13.19%.The company had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $51.58 earnings per share. AutoZone’s quarterly revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AutoZone declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 8th that allows the company to buyback $0.00 in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at AutoZone

In other AutoZone news, VP John Scott Murphy sold 2,860 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,175.70, for a total value of $11,942,502.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 1,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,194,570.80. This trade represents a 69.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Richard Craig Smith sold 3,000 shares of the 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 directly owned 2,925 shares in the company, valued at $11,337,007.50. This represents a 50.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.10% of the stock is owned by company 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.