Empirical Finance LLC Acquires 7,015 Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 323,303 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,015 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com comprises approximately 3.5% of Empirical Finance LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $60,241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 9.7% in the third quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 184,594 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $34,395,000 after buying an additional 16,392 shares in the last quarter. Umpqua Bank lifted its holdings in Amazon.com by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 35,120 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $6,544,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Amazon.com by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 225,254 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $41,972,000 after acquiring an additional 982 shares during the period. BayBridge Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 51.8% in the 3rd quarter. BayBridge Capital Group LLC now owns 14,368 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $2,677,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Finally, Zhang Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Amazon.com by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 51,091 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $9,520,000 after purchasing an additional 5,828 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 4,351 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.85, for a total transaction of $1,000,077.35. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $735,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 524,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,159,070. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,032,344 shares of company stock valued at $1,253,456,822 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Stock Up 1.8 %

AMZN opened at $229.05 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.05 and a 12 month high of $233.00. The company has a market cap of $2.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 49.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50 day moving average of $207.40 and a 200 day moving average of $192.05.

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. 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 the consensus estimate of $157.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.29 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMZN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $235.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson increased their price objective on Amazon.com from $235.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.00.

Amazon.com 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.