Meridian Wealth Management LLC Lowers Position in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 53.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 329 shares of the company’s stock after selling 379 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 232,194.6% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 731,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,891,963,000 after buying an additional 731,413 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of AutoZone by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 441,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,121,572,000 after purchasing an additional 5,650 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 111.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 335,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $851,379,000 after purchasing an additional 176,623 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of AutoZone by 4.5% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 259,964 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,309,000 after purchasing an additional 11,104 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in AutoZone by 0.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 212,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $539,433,000 after buying an additional 1,516 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Truist Financial boosted their target price 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. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on AutoZone from $3,400.00 to $3,346.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Citigroup cut their price target on AutoZone from $3,505.00 to $3,420.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $3,400.00 price target on shares of AutoZone in a research report on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3,115.24.

AutoZone Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of AutoZone stock opened at $2,917.50 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $3,036.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $2,818.00. AutoZone, Inc. has a twelve month low of $2,277.88 and a twelve month high of $3,256.37. The stock has a market cap of $50.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.72.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $28.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company’s revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $24.64 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 6,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,190.22, for a total value of $21,374,474.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 15,357 shares in the company, valued at $48,992,208.54. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP Richard Craig Smith sold 3,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,921 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,756,456.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 6,700 shares of AutoZone stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,190.22, for a total transaction of $21,374,474.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 15,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $48,992,208.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,990 shares of company stock worth $50,335,193 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

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.