LGT Capital Partners LTD. Boosts Position in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

LGT Capital Partners LTD. raised its holdings in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 28.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,940 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,559 shares during the period. AutoZone makes up about 3.3% of LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $94,312,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 354,692.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 993,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,293,100,000 after buying an additional 993,139 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its position in AutoZone by 1.7% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 382,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,202,596,000 after acquiring an additional 6,226 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in AutoZone by 137.6% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 310,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $918,998,000 after acquiring an additional 179,543 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of AutoZone by 564.2% during the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 152,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,338,000 after purchasing an additional 129,193 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,382 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

AutoZone Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE:AZO opened at $3,166.93 on Tuesday. AutoZone, Inc. has a twelve month low of $2,510.00 and a twelve month high of $3,256.37. The company has a market cap of $53.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.71. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $3,113.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $3,026.55.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 24th. The company reported $48.11 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $53.31 by ($5.20). The company had revenue of $6.21 billion for 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 revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $46.46 EPS. On average, analysts expect that AutoZone, Inc. will post 158.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AutoZone

In other AutoZone news, VP John Scott Murphy sold 1,580 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,107.69, for a total transaction of $4,910,150.20. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,218 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,166.42. This represents a 56.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 13,000 shares of AutoZone stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,107.15, for a total value of $40,392,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 13,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,055,777.55. The trade was a 48.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,880 shares of company stock worth $46,225,660 over the last quarter. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AZO has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $3,205.00 to $2,917.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of AutoZone from $3,300.00 to $3,350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Guggenheim raised their target price on AutoZone from $3,225.00 to $3,350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on AutoZone from $3,038.00 to $3,125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,202.71.

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.