Merit Financial Group LLC Raises Holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 37.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 283,663 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 77,972 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com accounts for about 1.1% of Merit Financial Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $62,233,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Amazon.com by 20.5% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 150,661 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 25,581 shares during the period. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the third quarter worth $45,000. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Amazon.com during the third quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, IFS Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Amazon.com by 1,625.0% in the fourth quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 345 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. 72.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMZN has been the subject of several research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Amazon.com from $221.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Amazon.com from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $250.33.

Amazon.com Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMZN opened at $237.68 on Friday. Amazon.com, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $151.61 and a fifty-two week high of $241.77. 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 has a market cap of $2.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.90, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $223.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $198.55.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last released 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. The business had revenue of $158.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.28 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 22.41% and a net margin of 8.04%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In other Amazon.com news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,996,362 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.85, for a total transaction of $625,790,203.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 917,416,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $191,602,535,437.60. The trade was a 0.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 sold 6,027,340 shares of company stock worth $1,252,456,773 in the last 90 days. 10.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.