Short Interest in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) Rises By 9.0%

AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 363,400 shares, an increase of 9.0% from the December 31st total of 333,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 129,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days. Approximately 2.2% of the company’s stock are sold short.

AutoZone Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE AZO opened at $3,354.35 on Friday. AutoZone has a 12-month low of $2,672.31 and a 12-month high of $3,437.63. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $3,263.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3,166.16. The stock has a market cap of $56.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.71.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, December 10th. The company reported $32.52 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $4.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $32.55 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AutoZone will post 152.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AZO. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 lifted 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 during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 213,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $683,867,000 after buying an additional 13,771 shares during the period. Marshfield Associates boosted its stake in shares of AutoZone by 0.5% in the third quarter. Marshfield Associates now owns 169,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $534,204,000 after buying an additional 796 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its holdings in AutoZone by 35.6% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 163,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $522,211,000 after acquiring an additional 42,776 shares during the period. 92.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AZO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of AutoZone from $3,450.00 to $3,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $3,205.00 to $2,917.00 in a report on Monday, October 14th. Barclays lifted their price target on AutoZone from $3,024.00 to $3,585.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on AutoZone in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $3,700.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on AutoZone from $3,450.00 to $3,750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AutoZone presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,429.84.

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.