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

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) had its price objective increased by stock analysts at Benchmark from $215.00 to $265.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the e-commerce giant’s stock. Benchmark’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 12.21% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on AMZN. HSBC upped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $280.00 price objective (up previously from $260.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Monday, January 27th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $236.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $252.56.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMZN opened at $236.17 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $225.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $199.78. The company has a market capitalization of $2.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 50.57, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.15. Amazon.com has a 1-year low of $151.61 and a 1-year high of $242.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In other news, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.06, for a total value of $246,237.22. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,912 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,958,982.72. This trade represents a 4.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 4,351 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.85, for a total transaction of $1,000,077.35. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,022,574 shares of company stock valued at $1,251,456,628. Insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Amazon.com

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMZN. Rench Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 7.9% during the third quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. now owns 50,403 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $9,392,000 after buying an additional 3,703 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in 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 valued at $34,395,000 after acquiring an additional 16,392 shares in the last quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC raised its stake in Amazon.com by 216.4% during the 3rd quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC now owns 6,930 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $1,291,000 after acquiring an additional 4,740 shares in the last quarter. Umpqua Bank boosted its position in Amazon.com by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 35,120 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $6,544,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the period. Finally, One Wealth Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the fourth quarter worth $4,270,000. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.