YHB Investment Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Position in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

YHB Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 756 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $2,421,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AutoZone by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 44,946 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,717,000 after acquiring an additional 6,898 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in AutoZone by 186.8% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 92,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,544,000 after purchasing an additional 60,483 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position 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 grew its holdings 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 during the period. Finally, Verde Capital Management purchased a new stake in AutoZone in the third quarter worth about $1,137,000. 92.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AZO. Barclays lifted their price objective on AutoZone from $3,024.00 to $3,585.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of AutoZone from $3,500.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Argus increased their price objective on shares of AutoZone from $3,560.00 to $3,678.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,350.00 to $3,600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Roth Capital upgraded AutoZone to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,429.84.

AutoZone Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:AZO opened at $3,370.37 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $3,238.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3,153.35. AutoZone, Inc. has a 52 week low of $2,672.31 and a 52 week high of $3,437.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.52, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.71.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, December 10th. The company reported $32.52 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $33.69 by ($1.17). AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 53.89% and a net margin of 14.18%. The company had revenue of $4.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $32.55 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 earnings per share for the current year.

AutoZone Company 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.