Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Sells 65 Shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 522 shares of the company’s stock after selling 65 shares during the quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $1,350,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tectonic Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AutoZone by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 1,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,669,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of AutoZone by 196.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 51,460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,055,000 after buying an additional 34,092 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AutoZone by 30.2% in the 4th quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $579,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of AutoZone by 77.1% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,624,000 after buying an additional 1,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of AutoZone by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 15,667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,509,000 after buying an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

AutoZone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AZO traded up $13.69 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $3,205.17. The stock had a trading volume of 3,484 shares, compared to its average volume of 159,798. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $2,891.93 and its 200 day moving average is $2,691.78. AutoZone, Inc. has a 52 week low of $2,277.88 and a 52 week high of $3,256.37. The stock has a market cap of $55.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.70.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $28.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $26.08 by $2.81. AutoZone had a net margin of 14.70% and a negative return on equity of 56.06%. The company had revenue of $3.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.32 billion. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $24.64 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that AutoZone, Inc. will post 151.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AutoZone news, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 6,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,190.22, for a total value of $21,374,474.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 15,357 shares in the company, valued at $48,992,208.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Eric S. Gould sold 2,100 shares of AutoZone stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,200.00, for a total transaction of $6,720,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 910 shares in the company, valued at $2,912,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 6,700 shares of AutoZone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,190.22, for a total transaction of $21,374,474.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 15,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,992,208.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 27,797 shares of company stock worth $81,010,974. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AZO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of AutoZone from $2,950.00 to $3,400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. TheStreet cut shares of AutoZone from a “c” rating to a “d+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Raymond James upgraded shares of AutoZone from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $2,850.00 to $3,100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 6th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of AutoZone from $2,779.00 to $3,100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on shares of AutoZone in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $3,450.00 price objective for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,080.72.

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.