SkyView Investment Advisors LLC Buys 28 Shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 4.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 607 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $1,912,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AZO. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AutoZone by 354,692.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 993,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,293,100,000 after acquiring an additional 993,139 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AutoZone during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $424,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its holdings in AutoZone by 2,714.8% during the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 120,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,267,000 after acquiring an additional 115,924 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of AutoZone by 186.8% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 92,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,544,000 after acquiring an additional 60,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its holdings in AutoZone by 319.0% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 36,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,375,000 after purchasing an additional 27,580 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at AutoZone

In related news, VP John Scott Murphy sold 1,580 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,107.69, for a total value of $4,910,150.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,166.42. This represents a 56.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,107.15, for a total transaction of $40,392,950.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 13,857 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,055,777.55. The trade was a 48.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,880 shares of company stock worth $46,225,660. 2.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AutoZone Price Performance

Shares of AutoZone stock opened at $3,344.70 on Thursday. AutoZone, Inc. has a 1 year low of $2,510.00 and a 1 year high of $3,416.71. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $3,137.56 and its 200 day moving average is $3,057.08. The stock has a market cap of $56.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.34, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.71.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, December 10th. The company reported $32.52 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $33.69 by ($1.17). AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 52.99% and a net margin of 14.40%. The business had revenue of $4.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $32.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that AutoZone, Inc. will post 155.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AZO. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,340.00 to $3,500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on AutoZone from $3,400.00 to $3,450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas raised AutoZone to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 21st. Finally, Roth Capital raised shares of AutoZone to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,339.25.

AutoZone 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.