Sovran Advisors LLC Invests $872,000 in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $872,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in AutoZone by 354,692.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 993,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,293,100,000 after purchasing an additional 993,139 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 421,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,326,545,000 after buying an additional 7,365 shares in the last quarter. Marshfield Associates grew its position in shares of AutoZone by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Marshfield Associates now owns 169,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $534,204,000 after buying an additional 796 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in AutoZone during the 4th quarter worth $471,629,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in AutoZone by 0.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 104,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $329,699,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AZO has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on AutoZone from $3,400.00 to $3,450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Mizuho raised their price target on AutoZone from $3,350.00 to $3,600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on AutoZone from $3,500.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Argus raised their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,560.00 to $3,678.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,450.00 to $3,750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AutoZone currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $3,429.84.

AutoZone Stock Performance

Shares of AZO stock opened at $3,448.45 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $57.87 billion, a PE ratio of 23.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.70. AutoZone, Inc. has a 1 year low of $2,672.31 and a 1 year high of $3,484.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $3,297.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $3,188.22.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 10th. The company reported $32.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $33.69 by ($1.17). The firm had revenue of $4.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 53.89% and a net margin of 14.18%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $32.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 earnings per share for the current year.

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.