Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Buys 246 Shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,805 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $18,588,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in AutoZone by 4.1% in the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 101 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AutoZone by 22.1% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,126,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of AutoZone by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,699,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of AutoZone by 8.5% during the second quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 102 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 8 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in AutoZone by 8.9% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,456 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,280,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on AZO. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,450.00 to $3,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Roth Capital raised AutoZone to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. BNP Paribas upgraded AutoZone to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Guggenheim raised their target price on AutoZone from $3,350.00 to $3,750.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their target price 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,429.84.

AutoZone Price Performance

Shares of AutoZone stock opened at $3,221.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $54.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.71. AutoZone, Inc. has a one year low of $2,658.18 and a one year high of $3,416.71. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $3,223.86 and its 200-day moving average is $3,139.31.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 10th. The company reported $32.52 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $33.69 by ($1.17). AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 53.89% and a net margin of 14.18%. The business had revenue of $4.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $32.55 earnings per share. AutoZone’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that AutoZone, Inc. will post 153.09 EPS for the current 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.