Alesco Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Alesco Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 200.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,736 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,496 shares during the period. Alesco Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $2,794,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AMZN. Rench Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 7.9% in the third quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. now owns 50,403 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $9,392,000 after buying an additional 3,703 shares during the last quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 4,740 shares during the last quarter. Umpqua Bank lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 35,120 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $6,544,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. One Wealth Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,270,000. Finally, Floyd Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,494,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In other news, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 20,784 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.65, for a total transaction of $4,585,989.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,118,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $467,532,195.90. The trade was a 0.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 5,501 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.44, for a total value of $1,256,648.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 505,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $115,434,843.92. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 102,298 shares of company stock valued at $22,871,828 over the last three months. 10.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Amazon.com Price Performance

Shares of AMZN stock opened at $196.01 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $214.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $209.22. The company has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.19. Amazon.com, Inc. has a twelve month low of $151.61 and a twelve month high of $242.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 research analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMZN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Amazon.com from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $280.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $260.53.

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.