300 Shares in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) Acquired by PDT Partners LLC

PDT Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $945,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZO. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted 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 in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in AutoZone by 137.6% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 310,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $918,998,000 after purchasing an additional 179,543 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in AutoZone by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 150,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $446,684,000 after buying an additional 3,382 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in AutoZone during the second quarter valued at about $424,000. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 2,714.8% in the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 120,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,267,000 after buying an additional 115,924 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of AutoZone from $3,038.00 to $3,125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Roth Capital raised AutoZone to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. BNP Paribas raised AutoZone to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded AutoZone to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $3,634.00 price target on shares of AutoZone in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AutoZone presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3,202.71.

AutoZone Price Performance

Shares of AZO opened at $3,169.54 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $53.58 billion, a PE ratio of 21.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.71. AutoZone, Inc. has a one year low of $2,510.00 and a one year high of $3,256.37. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $3,121.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $3,037.24.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 24th. The company reported $48.11 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $53.31 by ($5.20). The business had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.25 billion. AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 52.99% and a net margin of 14.40%. AutoZone’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $46.46 EPS. Analysts anticipate that AutoZone, Inc. will post 158.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other AutoZone news, VP John Scott Murphy sold 1,580 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 is available at this link. Also, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 13,000 shares of AutoZone 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 value of $40,392,950.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 13,857 shares in the company, valued at $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 three months, insiders sold 14,880 shares of company stock valued at $46,225,660. 2.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.