Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI Increases Stake in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI increased its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 4.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 55,358 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after buying an additional 2,402 shares during the period. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $10,315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 785,811,114 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $141,744,609,000 after buying an additional 14,724,687 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Amazon.com by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,982,857 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $15,689,968,000 after acquiring an additional 6,810,145 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Amazon.com by 1.5% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 69,686,374 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $13,466,933,000 after acquiring an additional 1,042,177 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 0.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 67,745,972 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $13,091,909,000 after acquiring an additional 289,532 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 7.4% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 42,370,172 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $7,642,732,000 after purchasing an additional 2,932,192 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.06, for a total transaction of $246,237.22. Following the sale, the director now owns 24,912 shares in the company, valued at $4,958,982.72. This trade represents a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 5,004 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.85, for a total value of $1,000,049.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 99,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,864,290.60. This represents a 4.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,011,423 shares of company stock valued at $1,249,093,896 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $202.88 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.09. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $192.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $186.18. The stock has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 43.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.14. Amazon.com, Inc. has a one year low of $141.50 and a one year high of $215.90.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $158.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Amazon.com from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America increased their price objective on Amazon.com from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.77.

Amazon.com 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.