Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 63.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 463,255 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after selling 789,877 shares during the period. Amazon.com makes up about 1.3% of Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $86,318,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Amazon.com by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 184,594 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $34,395,000 after purchasing an additional 16,392 shares in the last quarter. Umpqua Bank lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 0.4% in the third quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 35,120 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $6,544,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. BayBridge Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in Amazon.com by 51.8% during the third quarter. BayBridge Capital Group LLC now owns 14,368 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $2,677,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC grew its position in Amazon.com by 12.9% during the third quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 51,091 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $9,520,000 after buying an additional 5,828 shares during the period. Finally, Washington Trust Advisors Inc. increased 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 buying an additional 982 shares in the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In other Amazon.com news, SVP David Zapolsky sold 2,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.00, for a total value of $427,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 62,420 shares in the company, valued at $12,171,900. This trade represents a 3.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 4,351 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.85, for a total value of $1,000,077.35. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 88,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,273,459.55. This represents a 4.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,034,534 shares of company stock valued at $1,253,883,872 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

Shares of Amazon.com stock opened at $224.92 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Amazon.com, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.05 and a twelve month high of $233.00. The company’s fifty day moving average is $205.83 and its 200 day moving average is $191.38.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Amazon.com from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Maxim Group lifted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $251.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.00.

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.