Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Sells 554 Shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC cut its position in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 2.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 21,375 shares of the company’s stock after selling 554 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $81,498,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new position in AutoZone during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AutoZone by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC bought a new position in shares of AutoZone during the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AutoZone in the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC bought a new stake in AutoZone in the first quarter worth $46,000. 92.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $4,100.00 target price (up previously from $3,850.00) on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on AutoZone from $4,025.00 to $4,260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of AutoZone in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Roth Capital set a $4,135.00 price objective on shares of AutoZone and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on AutoZone from $3,740.00 to $4,050.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,087.00.

AutoZone Stock Performance

NYSE:AZO opened at $4,038.42 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $67.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.38. AutoZone, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,898.57 and a fifty-two week high of $4,094.69. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $3,754.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3,656.84.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 27th. The company reported $35.36 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $37.07 by ($1.71). AutoZone had a net margin of 13.56% and a negative return on equity of 56.07%. The firm had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $36.69 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,708.93, for a total transaction of $101,995,575.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 8,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,696,515.78. This trade represents a 76.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP K. Michelle Borninkhof sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,597.13, for a total value of $2,697,847.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,460,434.78. This trade represents a 64.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,862 shares of company stock worth $126,058,789 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

About AutoZone

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.