Brighton Jones LLC Makes New $248,000 Investment in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 96 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Rock Creek Group LP acquired a new stake in AutoZone during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in AutoZone during the 3rd quarter worth about $43,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in AutoZone during the 3rd quarter worth about $51,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AutoZone in the 4th quarter valued at about $54,000. Finally, Buck Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in AutoZone in the 3rd quarter valued at about $64,000. 92.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AZO. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of AutoZone from $3,100.00 to $3,425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on AutoZone from $3,000.00 to $3,200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Barclays lifted their price objective on AutoZone from $2,779.00 to $3,100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com downgraded AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on AutoZone from $2,950.00 to $3,400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3,086.61.

AutoZone Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE AZO opened at $2,952.20 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $3,048.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $2,783.78. AutoZone, Inc. has a 12-month low of $2,277.88 and a 12-month high of $3,256.37. The company has a market cap of $51.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.72.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $28.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $26.08 by $2.81. The business had revenue of $3.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.32 billion. AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 56.06% and a net margin of 14.70%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $24.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at AutoZone

In related news, VP Eric S. Gould sold 2,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,200.00, for a total transaction of $6,720,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,912,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other AutoZone news, VP Eric S. Gould sold 2,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,200.00, for a total transaction of $6,720,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 910 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,912,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 6,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,190.22, for a total value of $21,374,474.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 15,357 shares in the company, valued at $48,992,208.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 15,990 shares of company stock valued at $50,335,193. Corporate insiders own 2.50% 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.