Amazon.com Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 691,824 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 29% compared to the typical daily volume of 534,726 call options.

Amazon.com Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of AMZN stock opened at $207.86 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.51, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $193.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $186.52. Amazon.com has a 1-year low of $142.81 and a 1-year high of $215.90.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 earnings per share 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 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 prior year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Amazon.com will post 5.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In other Amazon.com news, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 15,260 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.19, for a total value of $3,054,899.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 349,261 shares in the company, valued at $69,918,559.59. This trade represents a 4.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 5,502 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.81, for a total value of $1,132,366.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 518,911 shares in the company, valued at approximately $106,797,072.91. The trade was a 1.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 6,026,683 shares of company stock worth $1,252,148,795. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Amazon.com

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AMZN. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Amazon.com by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 116,869 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $21,776,000 after buying an additional 1,499 shares in the last quarter. Tri Ri Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in Amazon.com in the 3rd quarter valued at $9,821,000. Optimist Retirement Group LLC purchased a new stake in Amazon.com in the 3rd quarter valued at $8,942,000. Blankinship & Foster LLC grew its holdings in Amazon.com by 216.4% in the 3rd quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC now owns 6,930 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $1,291,000 after buying an additional 4,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its holdings in Amazon.com by 61.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 298,678 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $55,653,000 after buying an additional 114,043 shares in the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AMZN. Scotiabank increased their price target on Amazon.com from $245.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Amazon.com from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Amazon.com from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research initiated coverage on Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $260.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Amazon.com from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amazon.com presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.20.

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.