William C. Rhodes III Sells 6,700 Shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) Stock

AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) 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 directly owns 15,357 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,992,208.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

AutoZone Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AZO traded up $20.66 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $3,191.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 133,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 162,457. AutoZone, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,277.88 and a fifty-two week high of $3,256.37. The company has a market capitalization of $55.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.70. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $2,879.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2,687.57.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $28.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $26.08 by $2.81. The business had revenue of $3.86 billion for 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $24.64 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that AutoZone, Inc. will post 151.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AutoZone

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC bought a new position in shares of AutoZone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Rock Creek Group LP bought a new position in shares of AutoZone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of AutoZone during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AutoZone during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, MUFG Americas Holdings Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 166.7% during the 3rd quarter. MUFG Americas Holdings Corp now owns 16 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on AutoZone from $2,900.00 to $3,100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Stephens increased their price objective on AutoZone from $3,000.00 to $3,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 6th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of AutoZone in a research report on Wednesday, December 13th. Wedbush increased their price objective on AutoZone from $2,950.00 to $3,400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded AutoZone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,080.72.

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.