Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Trading Up 1% After Analyst Upgrade

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s stock price shot up 1% during mid-day trading on Friday after Wolfe Research raised their price target on the stock from $250.00 to $270.00. Wolfe Research currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Amazon.com traded as high as $225.36 and last traded at $222.50. 8,143,435 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 20,594,824 shares. The stock had previously closed at $220.22.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on AMZN. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $235.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $236.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Amazon.com from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Redburn Atlantic lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Two 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.06, for a total transaction of $246,237.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 24,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,958,982.72. This trade represents a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 4,351 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 88,203 shares in the company, valued at $20,273,459.55. This represents a 4.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 6,032,344 shares of company stock worth $1,253,456,822 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AMZN. Semus Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Amazon.com by 0.3% in the third quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 17,920 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $3,339,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Amazon.com by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 3,359 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $626,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 3,076 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $594,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Amazon.com by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC now owns 2,536 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $473,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Amazon.com by 0.7% during the third quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,492 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $1,396,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $212.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $193.77. 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 released its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $158.88 billion for 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 for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.