Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Trading Up 1.7% Following Analyst Upgrade

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s stock price rose 1.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on the stock from $235.00 to $265.00. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Amazon.com traded as high as $225.61 and last traded at $224.30. Approximately 10,892,030 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 41,107,539 shares. The stock had previously closed at $220.52.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $235.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research assumed coverage on Amazon.com in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $260.00 price target for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $242.00.

Insider Activity

In other Amazon.com news, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 4,351 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.85, for a total value of $1,000,077.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 88,203 shares in the company, valued at $20,273,459.55. This represents a 4.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 2,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.00, for a total value of $427,050.00. Following 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 6,034,534 shares of company stock worth $1,253,883,872. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 20.5% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 150,661 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 25,581 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp increased 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 valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the third quarter valued at about $37,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the third quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the third quarter worth about $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $205.11 and a 200-day moving average of $190.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $2.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.81, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.16.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $158.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.28 billion. Amazon.com had a net margin of 8.04% and a return on equity of 22.41%. Amazon.com’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.29 earnings per share for the current 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.