Fortem Financial Group LLC Acquires New Stake in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Fortem Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,134,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its stake in shares of AutoZone by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 20,413 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,302,000 after acquiring an additional 427 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in AutoZone by 18.4% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 6,265 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,735,000 after purchasing an additional 974 shares during the last quarter. Empire Financial Management Company LLC lifted its stake in shares of AutoZone by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Empire Financial Management Company LLC now owns 395 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,244,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 5.3% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 499 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,572,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of AutoZone by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 421,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,326,545,000 after purchasing an additional 7,365 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AZO has been the subject of several research reports. BNP Paribas raised AutoZone to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on AutoZone from $3,038.00 to $3,125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $3,025.00 price target on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI lifted 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 note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of AutoZone from $3,340.00 to $3,500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,232.88.

AutoZone Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of AZO stock opened at $3,347.85 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $3,134.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3,053.20. The company has a market cap of $56.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.71. AutoZone, Inc. has a twelve month low of $2,510.00 and a twelve month high of $3,416.71.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, December 10th. The company reported $32.52 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $33.69 by ($1.17). AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 52.99% and a net margin of 14.40%. The company had revenue of $4.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $32.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that AutoZone, Inc. will post 155.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at AutoZone

In other AutoZone news, VP John Scott Murphy sold 1,580 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,107.69, for a total value of $4,910,150.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,785,166.42. This represents a 56.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,075.20, for a total transaction of $922,560.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 13,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,613,046.40. The trade was a 2.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,880 shares of company stock valued at $46,225,660 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.10% 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.