OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Lowers Holdings in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd reduced its holdings in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 21.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 157 shares of the company’s stock after selling 44 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZO. Rock Creek Group LP acquired a new position in shares of AutoZone during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of AutoZone during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. MUFG Americas Holdings Corp grew its position in AutoZone by 166.7% during the third quarter. MUFG Americas Holdings Corp now owns 16 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AutoZone in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in shares of AutoZone in the first quarter valued at $44,000. 92.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AutoZone Trading Up 0.4 %

AZO opened at $2,985.54 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $3,005.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2,761.20. The firm has a market cap of $51.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.02, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.70. AutoZone, Inc. has a twelve month low of $2,277.88 and a twelve month high of $3,256.37.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AutoZone news, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 6,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,190.22, for a total transaction of $21,374,474.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 15,357 shares in the company, valued at $48,992,208.54. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, VP Eric S. Gould sold 2,100 shares of the business’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 transaction, the vice president now owns 910 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,912,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 6,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,190.22, for a total value of $21,374,474.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sold 15,990 shares of company stock worth $50,335,193. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AZO. StockNews.com cut AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Barclays boosted their price target on AutoZone from $2,779.00 to $3,100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on AutoZone from $3,400.00 to $3,346.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Truist Financial upped their target price on AutoZone from $3,363.00 to $3,523.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. 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 equities research 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, AutoZone has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,086.61.

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.