Amazon.com Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors bought 770,354 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 37% compared to the average volume of 563,931 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amazon.com

In related news, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 4,351 shares of the company’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 in the company, valued at approximately $20,273,459.55. This represents a 4.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total value of $735,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 524,567 shares in the company, valued at $110,159,070. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 40,852 shares of company stock worth $9,324,151. Insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Amazon.com

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AMZN. Rench Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 3,703 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Amazon.com by 9.7% during the third quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 184,594 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $34,395,000 after buying an additional 16,392 shares in the last quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC grew its position in shares of Amazon.com by 216.4% during 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 period. Umpqua Bank increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 35,120 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $6,544,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, One Wealth Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,270,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AMZN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Amazon.com from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Amazon.com from $230.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $260.74.

Amazon.com Stock Down 2.8 %

NASDAQ AMZN traded down $6.30 during trading on Friday, reaching $216.58. 54,853,789 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 35,381,992. Amazon.com has a 12-month low of $151.61 and a 12-month high of $242.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $2.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $228.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $203.58.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.86 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Amazon.com will post 6.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.