Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Shares Up 2.7% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) rose 2.7% during trading on Wednesday after Mizuho raised their price target on the stock from $240.00 to $260.00. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Amazon.com traded as high as $231.20 and last traded at $231.13. Approximately 10,484,028 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 41,260,473 shares. The stock had previously closed at $225.04.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AMZN. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Amazon.com from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Amazon.com from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $220.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $197.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total transaction of $735,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 524,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,159,070. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,996,362 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 917,416,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $191,602,535,437.60. This trade represents a 0.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,030,183 shares of company stock worth $1,252,883,795 in the last quarter. Insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Semus Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 0.3% during the third quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 17,920 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $3,339,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc boosted 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 worth $626,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. O Connor Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 2.2% during the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $198.98 and a 200-day moving average of $188.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.16.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $157.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.29 EPS 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.