Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
The principal market on which our common stock is traded is the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “AZO.” On October 21, 2024, there were 1,603 stockholders of record, which does not include the number of beneficial owners whose shares were represented by security position listings.
We currently do not pay a dividend on our common stock. Any future payment of dividends would be dependent upon our financial condition, capital requirements, earnings and cash flow.
During 1998, the Company announced a program permitting the Company to repurchase a portion of its outstanding shares not to exceed a dollar maximum established by the Company’s Board of Directors. The Board voted to increase the repurchase authorization by $2.0 billion on December 20, 2023 and $1.5 billion on June 19, 2024, bringing the total value of authorized share repurchases to $39.2 billion.
Shares of common stock repurchased by the Company during the quarter ended August 31, 2024 were as follows:
Period
Total Number of Shares Purchased
Average Price Paid per Share
Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs
Maximum Dollar Value that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs
May 5, 2024 to June 1, 2024
65,636
$
2,891.87
65,636
$
1,184,718,249
June 2, 2024 to June 29, 2024
81,197
2,881.79
81,197
2,450,725,318
June 30, 2024 to July 27, 2024
84,860
2,936.78
84,860
2,201,510,545
July 28, 2024 to August 31, 2024
12,096
3,103.60
12,096
2,163,969,364
Total
243,789
$
2,914.65
243,789
$
2,163,969,364
The Company also repurchased, at market value, an additional 4,886 shares in fiscal year 2022 from employees electing to sell their stock under the Company’s Eighth Amended and Restated Employee Stock Purchase Plan (as amended from time to time, the “Employee Plan”), qualified under Section 423 of the Internal Revenue Code, under which all eligible employees may purchase AutoZone’s common stock at 85% of the lower of the market price of the common stock on the first day or last day of each calendar quarter through payroll deductions. Maximum permitted annual purchases are $15,000 per employee or 10 percent of compensation, whichever is less. Under the Employee Plan, 5,000, 5,183 and 6,238 shares were sold to employees in fiscal 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively. At August 31, 2024, 117,341 shares of common stock were reserved for future issuance under the Employee Plan.
Once executives have reached the maximum purchases under the Employee Plan, the Sixth Amended and Restated Executive Stock Purchase Plan (the “Executive Plan”) permits all eligible executives to purchase AutoZone’s common stock up to 25 percent of his or her annual salary and bonus. Purchases by executives under the Executive Plan were 540, 689 and 709 shares in fiscal 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively. At August 31, 2024, 232,426 shares of common stock were reserved for future issuance under the Executive Plan.
25
Table of Contents
Stock Performance Graph
The graph below presents changes in the value of AutoZone’s stock as compared to Standard & Poor’s 500 Composite Index (“S&P 500”) and to Standard & Poor’s Retail Index (“S&P Retail Index”) for the five-year period beginning August 31, 2019, and ending August 31, 2024.
Item 6. Reserved
Not required.
26
Table of Contents