Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Stock Price Down 1.6% Following Insider Selling

Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) fell 1.6% during trading on Thursday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $222.14 and last traded at $222.91. 8,609,783 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 34,105,473 shares. The stock had previously closed at $226.63.

Specifically, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 5,501 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.44, for a total transaction of $1,256,648.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 505,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,434,843.92. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 27,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.27, for a total value of $6,332,425.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 497,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,459,618.09. This represents a 5.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on AMZN. Susquehanna upped their target price on Amazon.com from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Amazon.com from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Phillip Securities cut Amazon.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on Amazon.com from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Amazon.com from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $260.74.

Amazon.com Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $2.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 40.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $228.10 and a 200-day moving average of $203.58.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.34. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 9.29%. Equities analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Amazon.com by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 823,360,597 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $180,637,081,000 after purchasing an additional 17,635,391 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Amazon.com by 3.3% during the 3rd 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 period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Amazon.com by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 328,464,225 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $72,061,766,000 after acquiring an additional 1,725,664 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Amazon.com by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 204,930,426 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $44,837,256,000 after acquiring an additional 5,015,380 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Amazon.com by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 182,813,905 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $40,107,544,000 after acquiring an additional 4,087,933 shares during the period. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Amazon.com

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.