Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Stock Price Up 1.7% After Analyst Upgrade

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) traded up 1.7% during trading on Wednesday after Guggenheim upgraded the stock to a strong-buy rating. The company traded as high as $232.42 and last traded at $231.78. 36,832,885 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 18% from the average session volume of 45,010,918 shares. The stock had previously closed at $227.92.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on AMZN. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $305.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. China Renaissance raised their price objective on Amazon.com from $278.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Zacks Research upgraded Amazon.com from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Roth Capital raised their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifty-six have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $295.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.03, for a total transaction of $5,500,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 493,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $123,391,555.21. This represents a 4.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 19,872 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.94, for a total value of $4,311,031.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,208,310 shares in the company, valued at $479,070,771.40. This trade represents a 0.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 82,234 shares of company stock valued at $19,076,767 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 9.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 113.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 113 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Carderock Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Amazon.com in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Amazon.com in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 81.9% during the second quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 211 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Ryan Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Amazon.com during the second quarter worth about $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Trading Down 1.8%

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $229.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $224.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.95, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.38. Amazon.com had a net margin of 11.06% and a return on equity of 23.62%. The firm had revenue of $180.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $177.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.43 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current 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.