Essex Financial Services Inc. Cuts Position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Essex Financial Services Inc. lowered its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 116,634 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after selling 8,234 shares during the period. Amazon.com comprises about 1.0% of Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $22,125,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AMZN. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 64.6% in the second quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 163 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the third quarter valued at about $37,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the third quarter worth about $45,000. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the third quarter worth about $56,000. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 650.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 300 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on AMZN. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Amazon.com from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Loop Capital increased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.20.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

Shares of AMZN opened at $207.89 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $186.94. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.81 and a 12 month high of $215.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $158.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.28 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 22.41% and a net margin of 8.04%. Amazon.com’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 5,502 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.81, for a total transaction of $1,132,366.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $106,797,072.91. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 2,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.00, for a total transaction of $427,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 62,420 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,171,900. The trade was a 3.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,026,683 shares of company stock worth $1,252,148,795 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

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.