First Horizon Advisors Inc. Purchases 42 Shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 316 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 42 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $995,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AZO. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in AutoZone in the third quarter worth $36,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 50.0% in the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 15 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 5 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in AutoZone during the third quarter valued at about $47,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in AutoZone during the second quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in AutoZone in the second quarter worth about $50,000. 92.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AutoZone news, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,075.20, for a total value of $922,560.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 13,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,613,046.40. The trade was a 2.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP John Scott Murphy sold 1,580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 1,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,785,166.42. The trade was a 56.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 14,880 shares of company stock worth $46,225,660. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $3,634.00 price objective on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $3,200.00 price target on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on AutoZone from $3,787.00 to $3,500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price 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, September 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $3,205.00 to $2,917.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $3,202.71.

AutoZone Stock Up 0.7 %

AZO opened at $3,070.94 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $51.90 billion, a PE ratio of 20.51, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.71. The business has a 50 day moving average of $3,111.40 and a 200-day moving average of $3,028.09. AutoZone, Inc. has a 52 week low of $2,510.00 and a 52 week high of $3,256.37.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last released its earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.25 billion. AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 52.99% and a net margin of 14.40%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $46.46 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that AutoZone, Inc. will post 158.09 EPS for the current year.

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.