SRS Capital Advisors Inc. Purchases 51 Shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 49.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 155 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AZO. LGT Capital Partners LTD. grew its stake in AutoZone by 32.2% in the 4th quarter. LGT Capital Partners LTD. now owns 27,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,458,000 after buying an additional 6,630 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in AutoZone in the fourth quarter worth $145,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in AutoZone by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 7,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,506,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC raised its position in AutoZone by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 1,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,398,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Graypoint LLC lifted its stake in AutoZone by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 143 shares of the company’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 value of $21,374,474.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 15,357 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,992,208.54. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 6,700 shares of AutoZone stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chairman now owns 15,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,992,208.54. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 directly owns 2,921 shares in the company, valued at $8,756,456.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,990 shares of company stock valued at $50,335,193 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AZO has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on AutoZone from $3,000.00 to $3,200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of AutoZone from $2,779.00 to $3,100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com cut shares of AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on 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. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on AutoZone from $2,950.00 to $3,400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AutoZone presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3,086.61.

AutoZone Trading Down 0.3 %

AutoZone stock traded down $9.89 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $2,952.20. 101,882 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 152,209. AutoZone, Inc. has a one year low of $2,277.88 and a one year high of $3,256.37. The company has a market cap of $51.13 billion, a PE ratio of 20.79, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.72. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $3,048.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2,783.78.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $28.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $24.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.4 earnings per share 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.