Verity & Verity LLC Buys 161 Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Verity & Verity LLC lifted its position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 12.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,435 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the quarter. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AMZN. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC bought a new position in Amazon.com in the 3rd quarter valued at $45,000. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the 3rd quarter valued at $56,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Amazon.com by 1,625.0% during the 4th quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 345 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the 4th quarter worth $88,000. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMZN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. HSBC raised their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Roth Mkm raised their target price on Amazon.com from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $250.33.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

Shares of Amazon.com stock opened at $237.68 on Friday. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 52 week low of $151.61 and a 52 week high of $241.77. The company has a market capitalization of $2.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 50.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $223.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $198.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $158.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.28 billion. Amazon.com had a net margin of 8.04% and a return on equity of 22.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.85 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 15,260 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 349,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,918,559.59. This trade represents a 4.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 24,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,958,982.72. The trade was a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 6,027,340 shares of company stock valued at $1,252,456,773. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

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.