Holocene Advisors LP Decreases Stock Holdings in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Holocene Advisors LP reduced its position in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 72.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,176 shares of the company’s stock after selling 86,899 shares during the quarter. Holocene Advisors LP owned about 0.20% of AutoZone worth $104,506,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZO. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of AutoZone by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $706,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares during the last quarter. Conning Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 4.3% in the second quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 98 shares of the company’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in shares of AutoZone by 14.3% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 32 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 4.1% during 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. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in AutoZone by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 159 shares of the company’s stock worth $490,000 after buying an additional 4 shares during the period. 92.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on AZO. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $3,634.00 price objective on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com lowered shares of AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded 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 report on Monday, October 14th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $3,025.00 price objective on shares of AutoZone in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Roth Capital raised shares of AutoZone to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $3,202.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at AutoZone

In other news, VP John Scott Murphy sold 1,580 shares of AutoZone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,107.69, for a total value of $4,910,150.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,166.42. The trade was a 56.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,107.15, for a total value of $40,392,950.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 13,857 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,055,777.55. The trade was a 48.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,880 shares of company stock worth $46,225,660 over the last quarter. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AutoZone Trading Down 0.6 %

AutoZone stock opened at $3,169.54 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $3,121.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $3,037.24. AutoZone, Inc. has a 12-month low of $2,510.00 and a 12-month high of $3,256.37. The stock has a market cap of $53.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.17, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.71.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 24th. The company reported $48.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $53.31 by ($5.20). AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 52.99% and a net margin of 14.40%. The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $46.46 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that AutoZone, Inc. will post 158.09 EPS for the current 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.