Insider Selling: AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) CEO Sells 2,000 Shares of Stock

AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) CEO Philip B. Daniele sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,800.01, for a total value of $7,600,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $619,401.63. The trade was a 92.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

AutoZone Stock Down 1.5 %

AutoZone stock traded down $58.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $3,769.72. 166,671 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 130,427. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $3,472.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $3,273.98. AutoZone, Inc. has a 12 month low of $2,728.97 and a 12 month high of $3,860.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.71.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The company reported $28.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $29.11 by ($0.82). AutoZone had a net margin of 14.18% and a negative return on equity of 53.89%. The firm had revenue of $3.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.98 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AZO. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in AutoZone by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 44,946 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,717,000 after acquiring an additional 6,898 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of AutoZone by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 34,808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,455,000 after buying an additional 7,922 shares during the period. Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in AutoZone by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,460,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Pensionfund Sabic grew its position in AutoZone by 51.3% during the fourth quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 590 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,889,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in AutoZone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $228,000. 92.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. DA Davidson upgraded AutoZone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $3,500.00 to $4,192.00 in a report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,024.00 to $3,585.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Roth Capital set a $3,763.00 price target on AutoZone in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on AutoZone from $3,775.00 to $3,830.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,750.00 to $3,850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3,683.36.

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.