Covington Investment Advisors Inc. Has $18.62 Million Position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 99,908 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after buying an additional 582 shares during the period. Amazon.com comprises about 2.8% of Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $18,616,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Amazon.com by 20.5% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 150,661 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 25,581 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in Amazon.com by 64.6% in the second quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 163 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new stake in Amazon.com in the third quarter worth about $37,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Amazon.com in the third quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Amazon.com in the third quarter worth about $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 4,351 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.85, for a total transaction of $1,000,077.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 88,203 shares in the company, valued at $20,273,459.55. This trade represents a 4.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 5,502 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.81, for a total transaction of $1,132,366.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $106,797,072.91. The trade was a 1.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 6,032,344 shares of company stock valued at $1,253,456,822 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $245.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.44.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

AMZN opened at $224.19 on Monday. Amazon.com, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.05 and a fifty-two week high of $233.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.01, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a fifty day moving average of $213.07 and a 200 day moving average of $194.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.09.

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

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.