Handelsbanken Fonder AB Cuts Position in AutoZone, Inc. $AZO

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lessened its holdings in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,504 shares of the company’s stock after selling 460 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $28,841,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AutoZone by 1.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,797,548 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,711,912,000 after buying an additional 26,544 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AutoZone by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 269,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $912,900,000 after buying an additional 3,868 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of AutoZone by 1.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 189,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $814,240,000 after buying an additional 2,333 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of AutoZone by 39.5% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 176,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $584,730,000 after buying an additional 50,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshfield Associates lifted its stake in shares of AutoZone by 3.2% in the third quarter. Marshfield Associates now owns 172,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $739,347,000 after buying an additional 5,293 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AZO. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of AutoZone from $4,274.00 to $4,345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. DA Davidson set a $4,300.00 price objective on shares of AutoZone in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of AutoZone from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $3,900.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, February 9th. UBS Group set a $4,800.00 price objective on shares of AutoZone in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Evercore increased their price objective on shares of AutoZone from $4,100.00 to $4,125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AutoZone presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $4,312.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Earl G. Graves, Jr. sold 50 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,478.72, for a total value of $173,936.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,826,568.64. This represents a 1.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AutoZone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AZO opened at $3,346.35 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $3,478.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $3,590.51. The stock has a market cap of $55.15 billion, a PE ratio of 23.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.43. AutoZone, Inc. has a 1 year low of $3,210.72 and a 1 year high of $4,388.11.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 3rd. The company reported $27.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $27.59 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.31 billion. AutoZone had a net margin of 12.47% and a negative return on equity of 72.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $28.29 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that AutoZone, Inc. will post 148.93 EPS for the current year.

AutoZone Company Profile

AutoZone, Inc (NYSE: AZO) is a retailer and distributor of automotive replacement parts and accessories. Headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, the company supplies a wide range of aftermarket components, maintenance items and accessories for passenger cars, light trucks and commercial vehicles. Its product assortment includes engine parts, electrical components, batteries, brakes, filters, fluids and interior and exterior accessories, supported by inventory management and logistics systems to serve retail customers and professional service providers.

AutoZone serves both do?it?yourself (DIY) consumers and commercial customers such as independent repair shops and service centers.