Romano Brothers AND Company Sells 31 Shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Romano Brothers AND Company reduced its stake in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 656 shares of the company’s stock after selling 31 shares during the quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $2,101,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 1.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 421,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,326,545,000 after acquiring an additional 7,365 shares during the period. Marshfield Associates grew its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Marshfield Associates now owns 169,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $534,204,000 after purchasing an additional 796 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 2.3% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of AutoZone by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 104,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $329,699,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. 92.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of AutoZone from $3,350.00 to $3,750.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com lowered AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 21st. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on AutoZone from $3,450.00 to $3,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Argus increased their target price on AutoZone from $3,560.00 to $3,678.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on AutoZone from $3,450.00 to $3,750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,429.84.

AutoZone Stock Performance

AZO opened at $3,221.06 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $3,222.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $3,132.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.05 billion, a PE ratio of 21.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.71. AutoZone, Inc. has a 52 week low of $2,658.18 and a 52 week high of $3,416.71.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 53.89% and a net margin of 14.18%. The company had revenue of $4.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $32.55 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that AutoZone, Inc. will post 153.09 EPS for the current year.

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.