Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. Buys New Position in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 44 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in AutoZone by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 421,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,326,545,000 after buying an additional 7,365 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 482,040.2% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 419,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,343,117,000 after purchasing an additional 419,375 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 213,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $683,867,000 after purchasing an additional 13,771 shares during the period. Marshfield Associates increased its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 0.5% in the third quarter. Marshfield Associates now owns 169,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $534,204,000 after purchasing an additional 796 shares during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 163,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $522,211,000 after purchasing an additional 42,776 shares during the period. 92.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Bailey L. Childress sold 160 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,550.00, for a total transaction of $568,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 50 shares in the company, valued at $177,500. This trade represents a 76.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Richard Craig Smith sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,610.00, for a total value of $10,288,500.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,555,640. This represents a 49.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,721 shares of company stock valued at $17,009,311 over the last quarter. 2.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial upped their target price on AutoZone from $3,753.00 to $3,841.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays upped their target price on AutoZone from $3,024.00 to $3,585.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup upped their target price on AutoZone from $3,500.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. DA Davidson upgraded AutoZone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $3,500.00 to $4,192.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on AutoZone from $3,525.00 to $3,700.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3,683.36.

AutoZone Price Performance

NYSE AZO opened at $3,605.88 on Friday. AutoZone, Inc. has a 1-year low of $2,728.97 and a 1-year high of $3,704.43. The company has a market cap of $60.51 billion, a PE ratio of 24.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.71. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $3,433.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3,257.92.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The company reported $28.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $29.11 by ($0.82). The company had revenue of $3.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.98 billion. AutoZone had a net margin of 14.18% and a negative return on equity of 53.89%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.