Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Receives Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $250.00 target price on the e-commerce giant’s stock.

AMZN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Pivotal Research began coverage on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Amazon.com from $224.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $197.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $247.72.

Amazon.com Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $235.42 on Tuesday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $219.15 and its 200 day moving average is $196.95. The stock has a market cap of $2.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 50.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.14. Amazon.com has a 52-week low of $151.61 and a 52-week high of $235.52.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.29. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 22.41% and a net margin of 8.04%. The firm had revenue of $158.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Amazon.com will post 5.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In related news, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 4,351 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 88,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,273,459.55. The trade was a 4.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 15,260 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.19, for a total value of $3,054,899.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 349,261 shares in the company, valued at $69,918,559.59. The trade was a 4.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 6,032,344 shares of company stock valued at $1,253,456,822. 10.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rench Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. now owns 50,403 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $9,392,000 after purchasing an additional 3,703 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 9.7% during the third quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 184,594 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $34,395,000 after buying an additional 16,392 shares during the last quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC grew its holdings in Amazon.com by 216.4% in the 3rd quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC now owns 6,930 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $1,291,000 after buying an additional 4,740 shares in the last quarter. Umpqua Bank increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 0.4% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Washington Trust Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 225,254 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $41,972,000 after acquiring an additional 982 shares during the period. 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.