Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Stock Price Up 1.5% on Strong Earnings

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) rose 1.5% on Wednesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock traded as high as $182.23 and last traded at $177.67. Approximately 36,187,280 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 17% from the average daily volume of 43,456,793 shares. The stock had previously closed at $175.00.

The e-commerce giant reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.15. Amazon.com had a net margin of 5.29% and a return on equity of 16.61%. The company had revenue of $143.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $142.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMZN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $224.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $185.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Amazon.com from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Amazon.com from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.58.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In other news, CEO Adam Selipsky sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.72, for a total transaction of $77,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,150,723.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Adam Selipsky sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.72, for a total transaction of $77,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,150,723.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Shelley Reynolds sold 3,100 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.97, for a total value of $523,807.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 119,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,239,226.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,214,010 shares of company stock valued at $5,505,889,146 in the last three months. 10.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 771,086,427 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $117,158,872,000 after purchasing an additional 13,134,632 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Amazon.com by 7.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 302,101,441 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $38,403,135,000 after buying an additional 21,649,871 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Amazon.com during the fourth quarter worth about $17,700,551,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 3.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 92,329,336 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $11,736,905,000 after buying an additional 3,260,411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 56,371,051 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $8,565,017,000 after buying an additional 1,389,503 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Trading Up 1.5 %

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $159.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.16.

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.