Morgan Stanley Increases AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) Price Target to $3,125.00

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) had its price objective hoisted by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $3,038.00 to $3,125.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 0.99% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on AZO. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $3,200.00 target price on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $2,600.00 price objective on shares of AutoZone in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of AutoZone from $3,900.00 to $3,350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of AutoZone from $3,150.00 to $3,225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3,134.88.

AutoZone Stock Performance

AZO stock traded up $50.43 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $3,094.40. The company had a trading volume of 34,416 shares, compared to its average volume of 141,923. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $3,109.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3,009.36. The company has a market cap of $52.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71. AutoZone has a twelve month low of $2,375.35 and a twelve month high of $3,256.37.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 24th. The company reported $48.11 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $53.31 by ($5.20). The company had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.25 billion. AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 54.58% and a net margin of 14.60%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $46.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that AutoZone will post 151.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AutoZone

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in AutoZone by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 88 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of AutoZone by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $706,000 after acquiring an additional 4 shares in the last quarter. Conning Inc. raised its position in shares of AutoZone by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 98 shares of the company’s stock valued at $290,000 after acquiring an additional 4 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its position in 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 buying an additional 4 shares during the period. Finally, 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 buying an additional 4 shares during the period. 92.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About AutoZone

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.