Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Increases Holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,131 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,055 shares during the period. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $770,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMZN. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in Amazon.com by 64.6% during the 2nd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 163 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the third quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the third quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 650.0% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 300 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AMZN. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Pivotal Research assumed coverage on Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $260.00 price target on the stock. Moffett Nathanson upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $235.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $245.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $221.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,996,362 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.75, for a total transaction of $619,497,843.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 914,420,614 shares in the company, valued at $189,056,461,944.50. This represents a 0.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 5,004 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.85, for a total value of $1,000,049.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 99,396 shares in the company, valued at $19,864,290.60. The trade was a 4.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 6,032,344 shares of company stock valued at $1,253,456,822. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Stock Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $227.05 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $209.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $192.55. Amazon.com, Inc. has a one year low of $144.05 and a one year high of $233.00. The company has a market capitalization of $2.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 22.41% and a net margin of 8.04%. The business had revenue of $158.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.