Essex Financial Services Inc. Purchases 2,926 Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 119,560 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,926 shares during the period. Amazon.com accounts for 1.9% of Essex Financial Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $26,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AMZN. Accordant Advisory Group Inc grew its stake in Amazon.com by 400.0% in the 4th quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 125 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Amazon.com by 20.5% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 150,661 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 25,581 shares during the last quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC acquired a new position in Amazon.com in the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Amazon.com by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC now owns 234 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Amazon.com in the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,000. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In other Amazon.com news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 27,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 497,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,459,618.09. This trade represents a 5.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 4,351 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 4.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 106,649 shares of company stock worth $23,871,905 over the last three months. 10.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on AMZN shares. Redburn Atlantic upped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $230.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $235.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $260.65.

Amazon.com Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ AMZN opened at $199.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.06. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 52-week low of $151.61 and a 52-week high of $242.52. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $224.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $206.80. The stock has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.19.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 24.25%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 EPS for the current year.

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.