Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Trading Up 1.6% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) shot up 1.6% on Monday after Raymond James raised their price target on the stock from $260.00 to $275.00. The stock traded as high as $233.84 and last traded at $232.72. 13,630,193 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the average session volume of 34,928,742 shares. The stock had previously closed at $229.15.

AMZN has been the topic of several other reports. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $235.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Amazon.com from $212.00 to $207.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Amazon.com from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Amazon.com from $235.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two research 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.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $260.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amazon.com news, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.06, for a total value of $246,237.22. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 24,912 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,958,982.72. The trade was a 4.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 4,351 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 88,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,273,459.55. This represents a 4.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,850 shares of company stock worth $6,168,581 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Amazon.com

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its stake in Amazon.com by 400.0% in the fourth 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 period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 25,581 shares during the period. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new stake in Amazon.com in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Amazon.com during the 3rd quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Quattro Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Amazon.com by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC now owns 234 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $227.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $201.24. 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 earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.34. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 25.49% and a net margin of 9.29%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.24 earnings per share 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.