Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Stock Price Up 1.8% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) were up 1.8% during trading on Monday after Wedbush raised their price target on the stock from $250.00 to $260.00. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Amazon.com traded as high as $228.84 and last traded at $228.32. Approximately 11,540,044 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 51% from the average daily volume of 23,746,752 shares. The stock had previously closed at $224.19.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on AMZN. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $235.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Maxim Group boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $251.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $235.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 4,351 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.85, for a total value of $1,000,077.35. Following the sale, the director now owns 88,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,273,459.55. This trade represents a 4.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,996,362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.85, for a total value of $625,790,203.70. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 917,416,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $191,602,535,437.60. The trade was a 0.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,032,344 shares of company stock worth $1,253,456,822 in the last three months. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

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

Amazon.com Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 48.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $213.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $194.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

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