Short Interest in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Increases By 14.7%

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 85,130,000 shares, an increase of 14.7% from the May 31st total of 74,190,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 40,020,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Amazon.com Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of AMZN stock opened at $193.25 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $183.87 and a 200-day moving average of $173.28. The stock has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.14. Amazon.com has a 52-week low of $118.35 and a 52-week high of $199.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $143.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $142.65 billion. Amazon.com had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 19.86%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.31 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Amazon.com will post 4.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amazon.com news, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 20,784 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.44, for a total value of $3,771,048.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,025,358 shares in the company, valued at $367,480,955.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 20,784 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.44, for a total value of $3,771,048.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,025,358 shares in the company, valued at $367,480,955.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Adam Selipsky sold 500 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $92,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 131,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,214,400. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 61,838 shares of company stock worth $11,261,789. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amazon.com

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Amazon.com by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 785,811,114 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $141,744,609,000 after purchasing an additional 14,724,687 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 7.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 302,101,441 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $38,403,135,000 after acquiring an additional 21,649,871 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the 4th quarter worth approximately $17,700,551,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Amazon.com by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 92,329,336 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $11,736,905,000 after acquiring an additional 3,260,411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Amazon.com by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,982,857 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $15,689,968,000 after purchasing an additional 6,810,145 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $234.00 to $239.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Loop Capital upped their target price on Amazon.com from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on Amazon.com from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Amazon.com from $224.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.86.

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.