Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $10.36 Million Holdings in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lessened its stake in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 12.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,007 shares of the company’s stock after selling 579 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $10,361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 27.0% in the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 17,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,214,000 after buying an additional 3,636 shares during the last quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in AutoZone in the 4th quarter valued at $908,000. Telemus Capital LLC raised its stake in AutoZone by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Telemus Capital LLC now owns 2,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,431,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Duality Advisers LP bought a new stake in AutoZone in the 4th quarter valued at $504,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in AutoZone by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 7,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,506,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AZO shares. Barclays increased their price target on AutoZone from $2,779.00 to $3,100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on AutoZone from $3,000.00 to $3,200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on AutoZone from $3,363.00 to $3,523.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on AutoZone from $2,900.00 to $3,100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on AutoZone in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $3,450.00 price objective on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,086.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AutoZone news, VP Richard Craig Smith sold 3,000 shares of AutoZone stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2,997.76, for a total value of $8,993,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,921 shares in the company, valued at $8,756,456.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Richard Craig Smith sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2,997.76, for a total transaction of $8,993,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 2,921 shares in the company, valued at $8,756,456.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Eric S. Gould sold 2,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,200.00, for a total value of $6,720,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,912,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 15,990 shares of company stock worth $50,335,193. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AutoZone Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of AZO stock traded up $8.00 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $2,969.66. 26,579 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 153,881. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $3,010.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $2,764.30. AutoZone, Inc. has a 1-year low of $2,277.88 and a 1-year high of $3,256.37. The company has a market cap of $51.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.70.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $28.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $26.08 by $2.81. The company had revenue of $3.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.32 billion. AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 56.06% and a net margin of 14.70%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $24.64 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.4 EPS 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.