Sphera Funds Management LTD. Increases Stake in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Sphera Funds Management LTD. grew its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 105,607 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,175 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com comprises approximately 3.1% of Sphera Funds Management LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Sphera Funds Management LTD.’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $19,678,000 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. Stansberry Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Amazon.com by 19.2% during the third quarter. Stansberry Asset Management LLC now owns 126,502 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $23,571,000 after buying an additional 20,384 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Amazon.com by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 359,179,990 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $66,926,008,000 after acquiring an additional 11,370,309 shares during the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Amazon.com by 409.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 99,474 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $18,535,000 after acquiring an additional 79,958 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 8,213,926 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $1,530,503,000 after acquiring an additional 43,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 11,343 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $2,114,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMZN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Moffett Nathanson increased their price target on Amazon.com from $235.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $243.67.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMZN opened at $218.94 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.30 trillion, a PE ratio of 46.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.14. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $149.91 and a 52-week high of $233.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $216.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $195.42.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Amazon.com

In other news, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 5,004 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 99,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,864,290.60. The trade was a 4.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.06, for a total transaction of $246,237.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,958,982.72. This trade represents a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,032,344 shares of company stock worth $1,253,456,822 over the last ninety days. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.