Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Trading Up 1.9% After Analyst Upgrade

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s share price rose 1.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $197.00 to $212.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Amazon.com traded as high as $223.47 and last traded at $221.95. Approximately 9,493,776 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 65% from the average daily volume of 27,071,990 shares. The stock had previously closed at $217.76.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on AMZN. Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $235.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $230.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $245.65.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In related news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,996,362 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.85, for a total value of $625,790,203.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 917,416,976 shares in the company, valued at $191,602,535,437.60. This trade represents a 0.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 4,351 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 88,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,273,459.55. This trade represents a 4.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 6,032,344 shares of company stock worth $1,253,456,822. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Amazon.com

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 position in Amazon.com during the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC purchased a new position in Amazon.com during the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in Amazon.com by 650.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Amazon.com during the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Price Performance

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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $217.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $195.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 47.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.14.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $158.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.29 EPS 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.