D.A. Davidson & CO. Increases Stock Holdings in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 20.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,107 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 189 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $3,545,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in AutoZone by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 421,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,326,545,000 after purchasing an additional 7,365 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position in AutoZone by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 213,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $683,867,000 after purchasing an additional 13,771 shares in the last quarter. Marshfield Associates increased its position in AutoZone by 0.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in AutoZone by 35.6% during the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 163,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $522,211,000 after purchasing an additional 42,776 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho lifted their price objective on AutoZone from $3,350.00 to $3,600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Argus lifted their price objective on AutoZone from $3,560.00 to $3,678.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Truist Financial lifted their price target on AutoZone from $3,501.00 to $3,753.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on AutoZone from $3,400.00 to $3,450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on AutoZone from $3,500.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $3,429.84.

AutoZone Stock Performance

AutoZone stock opened at $3,408.52 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $3,321.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $3,204.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.19 billion, a PE ratio of 22.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.70. AutoZone, Inc. has a one year low of $2,680.96 and a one year high of $3,484.42.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 10th. The company reported $32.52 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $33.69 by ($1.17). The company had revenue of $4.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 53.89% and a net margin of 14.18%. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $32.55 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.