Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Trading Up 1% After Analyst Upgrade

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s stock price rose 1% on Friday after Wolfe Research raised their price target on the stock from $250.00 to $270.00. Wolfe Research currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Amazon.com traded as high as $225.36 and last traded at $222.50. Approximately 8,143,435 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 60% from the average daily volume of 20,594,824 shares. The stock had previously closed at $220.22.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Redburn Atlantic increased their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $235.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Mizuho raised their price target on Amazon.com from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Amazon.com from $224.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.44.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 15,260 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.19, for a total value of $3,054,899.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 349,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,918,559.59. The trade was a 4.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,996,362 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.85, for a total transaction of $625,790,203.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 917,416,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $191,602,535,437.60. This trade represents a 0.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 6,032,344 shares of company stock worth $1,253,456,822. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 9.7% in the third quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 184,594 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $34,395,000 after purchasing an additional 16,392 shares during the period. Umpqua Bank raised its position in Amazon.com by 0.4% during the third quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 35,120 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $6,544,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Amazon.com by 0.4% in the third quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 225,254 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $41,972,000 after acquiring an additional 982 shares during the period. BayBridge Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in Amazon.com by 51.8% in the third quarter. BayBridge Capital Group LLC now owns 14,368 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $2,677,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Finally, Zhang Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 51,091 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $9,520,000 after purchasing an additional 5,828 shares during the period. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $213.07 and its 200-day moving average is $194.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.01, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.29. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 22.41% and a net margin of 8.04%. The firm had revenue of $158.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $157.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amazon.com Company Profile

Amazon.com, Inc engages in the retail sale of consumer products, advertising, and subscriptions service through online and physical stores in North America and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). It also manufactures and sells electronic devices, including Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TVs, Echo, Ring, Blink, and eero; and develops and produces media content.