Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Stock

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) had its target price lifted by Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $280.00 in a research note released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the e-commerce giant’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Pivotal Research initiated coverage on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $260.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $235.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $245.33.

Amazon.com Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of AMZN stock opened at $218.46 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.14. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $149.91 and a fifty-two week high of $233.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $216.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $195.57.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $158.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $157.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. Amazon.com’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Amazon.com will post 5.29 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,996,362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.85, for a total value of $625,790,203.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 917,416,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $191,602,535,437.60. This represents a 0.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 5,502 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $106,797,072.91. The trade was a 1.05 % 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 valued at $1,253,456,822 over the last 90 days. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AMZN. PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings in Amazon.com by 64.6% during the 2nd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 163 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in Amazon.com during the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Amazon.com during the 3rd quarter worth about $45,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in Amazon.com by 650.0% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 300 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Amazon.com during the 3rd quarter worth about $56,000. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.