AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) Price Target Lowered to $3,420.00 at Citigroup

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) had its price target cut by Citigroup from $3,505.00 to $3,420.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on AZO. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,400.00 to $3,346.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. StockNews.com lowered AutoZone from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. DA Davidson upped their target price on AutoZone from $2,770.00 to $3,025.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on AutoZone from $2,900.00 to $3,100.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on AutoZone from $2,950.00 to $3,400.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $3,108.83.

AutoZone Trading Up 0.8 %

AZO stock opened at $2,990.65 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $51.80 billion, a PE ratio of 21.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $3,056.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $2,795.11. AutoZone has a 12-month low of $2,277.88 and a 12-month high of $3,256.37.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at AutoZone

In other 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 value of $6,720,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 910 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,912,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Richard Craig Smith sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2,997.76, for a total transaction of $8,993,280.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 2,921 shares in the company, valued at $8,756,456.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Eric S. Gould sold 2,100 shares of AutoZone stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,200.00, for a total value of $6,720,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,912,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,990 shares of company stock worth $50,335,193 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AutoZone

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 32.0% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 2,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,234,000 after acquiring an additional 595 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in AutoZone by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,550,000 after purchasing an additional 8 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its position in AutoZone by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 90 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC increased its stake in shares of AutoZone by 9.9% in the third quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 1,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,184,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of AutoZone during the third quarter valued at approximately $643,000. Institutional investors own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

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.