Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Purchases Shares of 55 AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 55 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $142,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AZO. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of AutoZone by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 1,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,398,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of AutoZone by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 3,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,437,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of AutoZone by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $396,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its position in shares of AutoZone by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 2,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,857,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in AutoZone by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 1,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,401,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on AutoZone from $2,900.00 to $3,100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. DA Davidson upped their price target on AutoZone from $2,770.00 to $3,025.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on AutoZone from $3,363.00 to $3,523.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price objective on AutoZone from $2,950.00 to $3,400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,086.61.

AutoZone Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of AZO stock traded up $12.37 on Friday, reaching $2,985.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 114,397 shares, compared to its average volume of 124,587. AutoZone, Inc. has a 12-month low of $2,277.88 and a 12-month high of $3,256.37. The company has a market capitalization of $51.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.02, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.70. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $3,005.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2,757.38.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $28.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $26.08 by $2.81. AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 56.06% and a net margin of 14.70%. The company had revenue of $3.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $24.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AutoZone

In other AutoZone news, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 6,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,190.22, for a total transaction of $21,374,474.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 15,357 shares in the company, valued at $48,992,208.54. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other AutoZone news, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 6,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,190.22, for a total transaction of $21,374,474.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 15,357 shares in the company, valued at $48,992,208.54. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Richard Craig Smith sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2,997.76, for a total value of $8,993,280.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 2,921 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,756,456.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,990 shares of company stock worth $50,335,193 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.