Brighton Jones LLC Purchases 14 Shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 14.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 111 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 14 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in AutoZone by 0.6% in the third quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 710 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,237,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares during the period. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in AutoZone by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 95 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,000 after buying an additional 4 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in AutoZone by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 84 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,000 after buying an additional 4 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in AutoZone by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 267 shares of the company’s stock worth $841,000 after acquiring an additional 4 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in shares of AutoZone by 4.2% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 99 shares of the company’s stock worth $312,000 after acquiring an additional 4 shares during the period. 92.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AZO. Redburn Atlantic upgraded AutoZone to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays raised their price target on AutoZone from $3,024.00 to $3,585.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $3,634.00 price objective on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,500.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $3,205.00 to $2,917.00 in a research report on Monday, October 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AutoZone currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $3,429.84.

AutoZone Price Performance

Shares of AZO opened at $3,328.28 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.85 billion, a PE ratio of 22.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.71. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $3,238.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $3,151.29. AutoZone, Inc. has a 1-year low of $2,672.31 and a 1-year high of $3,416.71.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last released its earnings results 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 firm 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 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AutoZone Company 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.