Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Stock Price Down 3.5% on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) fell 3.5% on Monday after Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on the stock from $275.00 to $250.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Amazon.com traded as low as $184.40 and last traded at $185.94. 20,174,205 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 49% from the average session volume of 39,765,654 shares. The stock had previously closed at $192.72.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on AMZN. UBS Group boosted their price target on Amazon.com from $230.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Amazon.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price target (up previously from $225.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $245.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on Amazon.com from $230.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $260.53.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In related news, SVP David Zapolsky sold 19,212 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.50, for a total transaction of $4,178,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,950 shares in the company, valued at $10,864,125. This represents a 27.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Shelley Reynolds sold 8,833 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.47, for a total value of $1,965,077.51. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 119,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,647,456.60. The trade was a 6.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 102,298 shares of company stock valued at $22,871,828. 10.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amazon.com

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 44.3% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,641,401 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $492,172,000 after purchasing an additional 811,425 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,335,826 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $2,484,864,000 after buying an additional 183,610 shares in the last quarter. Sassicaia Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Amazon.com during the third quarter worth about $279,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its stake in Amazon.com by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 356,539 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $66,434,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Management Co. raised its holdings in Amazon.com by 27.6% in the 3rd quarter. Meridian Management Co. now owns 33,460 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $6,235,000 after acquiring an additional 7,246 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $215.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $209.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.06.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.34. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 9.29%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 EPS for the current year.

About Amazon.com

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.