AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO – Get Rating) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 262,500 shares, a drop of 7.4% from the February 13th total of 283,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 154,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AZO shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on AutoZone from $2,725.00 to $2,800.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. MKM Partners raised their price target on AutoZone from $2,350.00 to $2,650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 7th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of AutoZone from $2,350.00 to $2,600.00 in a research report on Monday, November 28th. Bank of America lowered AutoZone from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 14th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on AutoZone in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $2,652.76.

Insider Buying and Selling at AutoZone

In other AutoZone news, VP Grant E. Mcgee sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2,400.00, for a total transaction of $1,200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $585,600. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Grant E. Mcgee sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2,400.00, for a total value of $1,200,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 244 shares in the company, valued at $585,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO William C. Rhodes III sold 29,511 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2,427.27, for a total transaction of $71,631,164.97. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,984,277.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,872 shares of company stock worth $94,603,027 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Belmont Capital LLC acquired a new stake in AutoZone during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Robbins Farley bought a new stake in shares of AutoZone in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its stake in shares of AutoZone by 83.3% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 11 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 5 shares in the last quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in AutoZone during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, WD Rutherford LLC acquired a new stake in AutoZone in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.12% of the company’s stock.

AutoZone Price Performance

NYSE AZO traded down $22.20 during trading on Friday, reaching $2,391.12. 46,252 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 152,341. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $2,454.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $2,383.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.84, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.69. AutoZone has a fifty-two week low of $1,703.32 and a fifty-two week high of $2,610.05.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The company reported $24.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $21.33 by $3.31. AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 64.72% and a net margin of 14.32%. The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $22.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that AutoZone will post 127.22 earnings per share for the current year.

About AutoZone

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AutoZone, Inc engages in the retail and distribution of automotive replacement parts and accessories. The firm offers ALLDATA, which produces, sells, and maintains diagnostic and repair information software used in the automotive repair industry and E-commerce, which includes direct sales to customers.