Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Trading Up 0.3% After Analyst Upgrade

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s share price shot up 0.3% on Thursday after Loop Capital raised their price target on the stock from $275.00 to $285.00. Loop Capital currently has a buy rating on the stock. Amazon.com traded as high as $230.32 and last traded at $229.68. 7,934,200 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 34,327,371 shares. The stock had previously closed at $228.93.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Susquehanna increased their target price on Amazon.com from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark lifted their target price on Amazon.com from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Raymond James upped their price target on Amazon.com from $260.00 to $275.00 in a research report on Monday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $230.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Amazon.com from $240.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $260.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amazon.com news, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 4,351 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.85, for a total value of $1,000,077.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 88,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,273,459.55. This trade represents a 4.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.06, for a total transaction of $246,237.22. Following the transaction, the director now owns 24,912 shares in the company, valued at $4,958,982.72. This represents a 4.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,850 shares of company stock valued at $6,168,581 over the last quarter. 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 added to or reduced their stakes in AMZN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 823,360,597 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $180,637,081,000 after purchasing an additional 17,635,391 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Amazon.com by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 359,179,990 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $66,926,008,000 after buying an additional 11,370,309 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Amazon.com by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 328,464,225 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $72,061,766,000 after acquiring an additional 1,725,664 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 204,930,426 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $44,837,256,000 after acquiring an additional 5,015,380 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,266,582,000. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $2.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $227.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $201.78.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last released its earnings results 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 25.49% and a net margin of 9.29%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.24 earnings per share 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.