Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the forty-five brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $260.65.

Several research firms have issued reports on AMZN. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Amazon.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Maxim Group raised their price target on Amazon.com from $260.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 27,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.27, for a total value of $6,332,425.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 497,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,459,618.09. This trade represents a 5.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 sale, the director now directly owns 88,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,273,459.55. This trade represents a 4.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 106,649 shares of company stock worth $23,871,905 over the last ninety days. 10.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,266,582,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Amazon.com by 20,897.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 39,135,449 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $72,921,080,000 after buying an additional 38,949,065 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Amazon.com by 36.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 65,709,496 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $14,416,078,000 after buying an additional 17,681,004 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Amazon.com by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 823,360,597 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $180,637,081,000 after acquiring an additional 17,635,391 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 12,018,120 shares during the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amazon.com Trading Up 2.2 %

AMZN opened at $208.36 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $225.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $206.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Amazon.com has a 12 month low of $151.61 and a 12 month high of $242.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.68, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.19.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Amazon.com will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.