John Scott Murphy Sells 1,580 Shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) Stock

AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) VP John Scott Murphy sold 1,580 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,107.69, for a total value of $4,910,150.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,166.42. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

AutoZone Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:AZO opened at $3,196.61 on Friday. AutoZone, Inc. has a twelve month low of $2,375.35 and a twelve month high of $3,256.37. The company has a market cap of $54.61 billion, a PE ratio of 22.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. The company’s 50 day moving average is $3,121.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3,012.27.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 24th. The company reported $48.11 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $53.31 by ($5.20). AutoZone had a net margin of 14.60% and a negative return on equity of 54.58%. The company had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $46.46 earnings per share. AutoZone’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that AutoZone, Inc. will post 151.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of AutoZone

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its position in AutoZone by 5.8% in the second quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,089,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AutoZone in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,249,000. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AutoZone in the second quarter worth $362,000. Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 18.3% during the second quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 17,174 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,897,000 after purchasing an additional 2,660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Regal Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in AutoZone by 39.3% during the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $735,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AZO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,787.00 to $3,500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of AutoZone from $3,394.00 to $3,341.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of AutoZone from $3,340.00 to $3,500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Guggenheim increased their target price on AutoZone from $3,225.00 to $3,350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on AutoZone from $3,280.00 to $3,350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AutoZone presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,169.38.

AutoZone Company Profile

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.