Meridian Wealth Management LLC Buys 4 Shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 146 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $466,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in AutoZone by 18.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 44,946 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,717,000 after purchasing an additional 6,898 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in AutoZone by 186.8% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 92,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $292,544,000 after purchasing an additional 60,483 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in AutoZone by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 34,808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,455,000 after purchasing an additional 7,922 shares in the last quarter. Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in AutoZone by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Silverleafe Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,460,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in AutoZone by 592.0% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 9,210 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,012,000 after purchasing an additional 7,879 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of AutoZone from $3,600.00 to $3,740.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,875.00 to $4,025.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $3,700.00 target price on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Wednesday. Roth Mkm increased their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,634.00 to $3,763.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,750.00 to $3,850.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3,646.62.

AutoZone Price Performance

Shares of AutoZone stock opened at $3,569.49 on Thursday. AutoZone, Inc. has a 1 year low of $2,728.97 and a 1 year high of $3,570.50. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $3,351.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3,223.79. The stock has a market cap of $59.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.85, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.71.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The company reported $28.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $29.11 by ($0.82). AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 53.89% and a net margin of 14.18%. The business had revenue of $3.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.98 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 earnings per share 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.