Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Hits New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Benchmark raised their price target on the stock from $215.00 to $265.00. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the stock. Amazon.com traded as high as $241.83 and last traded at $241.41, with a volume of 7384339 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $237.42.

Several other brokerages have also commented on AMZN. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $230.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Amazon.com from $235.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Amazon.com from $246.00 to $306.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $252.56.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total transaction of $735,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 524,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,159,070. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.06, for a total value of $246,237.22. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 24,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,958,982.72. This represents a 4.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 6,022,574 shares of company stock valued at $1,251,456,628. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AMZN. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 400.0% during the fourth quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 125 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 150,661 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 25,581 shares during the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the third quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Quattro Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC now owns 234 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $225.24 and a 200 day moving average of $199.78. 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 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.