Wedbush Securities Inc. Buys New Stake in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Wedbush Securities Inc. bought a new stake in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $355,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AZO. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in AutoZone during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AutoZone during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its position in AutoZone by 42.9% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 10 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in AutoZone during the fourth quarter worth $61,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its position in AutoZone by 25.0% during the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 20 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 4 shares during the period. 92.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of AutoZone from $3,500.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of AutoZone in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,875.00 to $4,025.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of AutoZone from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $3,044.00 to $3,811.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $3,700.00 target price on shares of AutoZone in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,724.00.

AutoZone Trading Up 1.7 %

AZO opened at $3,559.48 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $59.74 billion, a PE ratio of 23.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.54. AutoZone, Inc. has a 1 year low of $2,728.97 and a 1 year high of $3,916.81. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $3,548.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3,318.05.

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

Insider Activity at AutoZone

In related news, VP Richard Craig Smith sold 2,850 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,610.00, for a total transaction of $10,288,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,555,640. This trade represents a 49.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Philip B. Daniele sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,800.01, for a total value of $7,600,020.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $619,401.63. This trade represents a 92.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 6,721 shares of company stock worth $24,609,331. 2.10% of the stock is owned by 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.