Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Boosts Position in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC lifted its position in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 837 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $2,671,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 354,692.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 993,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,293,100,000 after purchasing an additional 993,139 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in AutoZone by 186.8% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 92,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $292,544,000 after buying an additional 60,483 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP boosted its stake in AutoZone by 542.8% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 62,471 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,032,000 after buying an additional 52,753 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AutoZone during the third quarter valued at about $85,127,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of AutoZone during the third quarter valued at about $63,379,000. 92.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AZO. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $3,205.00 to $2,917.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. TD Cowen raised their price target on AutoZone from $3,450.00 to $3,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup lifted 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. Guggenheim increased their target price on AutoZone from $3,350.00 to $3,750.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Argus lifted their target price on AutoZone from $3,560.00 to $3,678.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3,429.84.

AutoZone Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of AZO stock opened at $3,355.54 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $56.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.42, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $3,252.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $3,160.68. AutoZone, Inc. has a 12 month low of $2,672.31 and a 12 month high of $3,437.63.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last released 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). The business had revenue of $4.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. AutoZone had a net margin of 14.18% and a negative return on equity of 53.89%. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $32.55 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 EPS for the current year.

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.