Let G be a finite group, let A be a group of automorphisms of G and let CG(A) denote the subgroup of fixed points of A in G. If the order of CG(A) is coprime to the number of orbits of A in G, then CG(A) is contained in the autocommutator subgroup [G, A]. The notion of class-avoiding automorphism is used to extend theorems of J. Thompson and P. Rowley.