First Merchants Corp Increases Position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

First Merchants Corp lifted its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 103,104 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after buying an additional 8,351 shares during the period. Amazon.com accounts for approximately 1.3% of First Merchants Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $15,665,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Register Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,263 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $669,000 after acquiring an additional 657 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 14,613 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $1,858,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,260 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $799,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the period. Tompkins Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 71,576 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $10,875,000 after acquiring an additional 2,273 shares during the period. Finally, Nicholas Company Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nicholas Company Inc. now owns 705,065 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $89,628,000 after acquiring an additional 26,465 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

Amazon.com stock opened at $176.59 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $177.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $158.12. The company has a market cap of $1.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 60.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 0.84. Amazon.com, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.15 and a fifty-two week high of $189.77.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.19. Amazon.com had a net margin of 5.29% and a return on equity of 16.61%. The business had revenue of $169.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $165.96 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.21 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 4.1 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMZN has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $180.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $185.00 to $204.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $204.76.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In related news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 20,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.99, for a total transaction of $3,433,798.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 514,131 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,397,128.69. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Amazon.com news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 20,200 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.99, for a total value of $3,433,798.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 514,131 shares in the company, valued at $87,397,128.69. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Adam Selipsky sold 500 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $92,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 131,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,214,400. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 32,214,010 shares of company stock valued at $5,505,889,146. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

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.