Ascent Capital Management LLC Makes New $4.23 Million Investment in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Ascent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 19,273 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock, valued at approximately $4,228,000. Amazon.com accounts for approximately 4.3% of Ascent Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AMZN. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Amazon.com by 17,054.5% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,088,589 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $2,652,116,000 after buying an additional 12,018,120 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 82,457.3% in the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 11,405,294 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $2,125,148,000 after acquiring an additional 11,391,479 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 359,179,990 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $66,926,008,000 after purchasing an additional 11,370,309 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Amazon.com by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 199,915,046 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $37,116,341,000 after purchasing an additional 6,545,944 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its stake in Amazon.com by 23,742.9% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 5,102,618 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $1,119,463,000 after purchasing an additional 5,081,217 shares during the period. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amazon.com news, SVP David Zapolsky sold 19,212 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.50, for a total transaction of $4,178,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,950 shares in the company, valued at $10,864,125. The trade was a 27.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.27, for a total transaction of $6,332,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 497,067 shares in the company, valued at $114,459,618.09. The trade was a 5.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 104,798 shares of company stock worth $23,341,803 over the last ninety days. 10.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on AMZN. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Amazon.com from $245.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Westpark Capital assumed coverage on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Wolfe Research raised their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $236.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $252.73.

Amazon.com Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of Amazon.com stock opened at $174.33 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.06. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $200.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $208.06. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 52-week low of $151.61 and a 52-week high of $242.52.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.34. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 9.29%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 EPS for the current year.

Amazon.com 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.