Insider Selling: Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) CEO Sells 27,500 Shares of Stock

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 27,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.27, for a total value of $6,332,425.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 497,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,459,618.09. This represents a 5.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

AMZN opened at $228.68 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $228.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $201.98. The company has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.15. Amazon.com, Inc. 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.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.34. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 25.49% and a net margin of 9.29%. Research analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.24 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AMZN shares. Benchmark raised their price target on Amazon.com from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $236.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wolfe Research raised their price target on Amazon.com from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Redburn Atlantic raised their price target on Amazon.com from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $260.74.

Institutional Trading of Amazon.com

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bienville Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Bienville Capital Management LLC now owns 42,263 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $9,272,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Amazon.com by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 21,043 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $4,617,000 after acquiring an additional 973 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co lifted its position in shares of Amazon.com by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 310,354 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $68,089,000 after acquiring an additional 4,641 shares during the period. Pennington Partners & CO. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the 4th quarter valued at $3,467,000. Finally, South Plains Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the 4th quarter valued at $3,171,000. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.