Amazon.com Shares Rise After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) experienced a modest increase of 1% during mid-day trading on Friday. This uptick followed an upgrade from Wolfe Research, which raised its price target for the stock from $250.00 to $270.00. Currently, Wolfe Research holds an outperform rating on Amazon.com shares. The stock reached a high of $225.36 during the trading session and was last seen at $222.50, with a total of 8,143,435 shares exchanged during this period, reflecting a notable decrease in volume compared to its average of 20,594,824 shares. The previous closing price was $220.22.

Other financial institutions have also provided insights on Amazon.com. On November 20th, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on AMZN, setting a price target of $197.00. Maxim Group, in a report dated November 1st, raised its price target from $251.00 to $260.00 while maintaining a “buy” rating. Also on November 1st, Benchmark lifted its price target from $200.00 to $215.00, and Deutsche Bank increased its target from $225.00 to $232.00, both giving a “buy” rating. Furthermore, Royal Bank of Canada adjusted its price target from $215.00 to $225.00, also rating it as “outperform.” Overall, analysts have positive views on the stock, with 41 buy ratings, two hold ratings, and one strong buy rating. According to MarketBeat.com, Amazon holds an average analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” with a consensus target price of $243.44.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In other news, there has been some insider trading activity at Amazon. CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 3,500 shares on December 2nd at an average price of $210.00, totaling $735,000.00. After this transaction, he retains ownership of 524,567 shares valued at approximately $110.16 million. This sale represented a 0.66% decrease in his shareholding. Additionally, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 4,351 shares on December 9th at an average price of $229.85, resulting in a transaction value of $1,000,077.35. Following this sale, he holds 88,203 shares worth about $20.27 million, a decrease of 4.70% in his ownership. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold a total of 6,032,344 shares amounting to $1.25 billion, while corporate insiders hold 10.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investor Activity

Recently, institutional investors have made changes to their holdings in Amazon.com. For example, jvl associates llc increased its stake by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, owning 3,958 shares worth $868,000 post-acquisition. Similarly, Integrated Capital Management LLC expanded its holdings by 1.0% to a total of 6,116 shares valued at $1.34 million. First Citizens Financial Corp significantly raised its stake by 32.4%, acquiring a total of 2,076 shares worth $455,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. increased its stake by 0.8%, owning 176,370 shares valued at $38.69 million. Finally, NRI Wealth Management LC made a new investment in Amazon valued at around $5.99 million. Currently, 72.20% of Amazon's stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amazon.com Performance Metrics

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $213.07 and a two-hundred day average of $194.05. Amazon.com has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54, and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s current ratio is 1.09, the quick ratio stands at 0.87, and the debt-to-equity ratio is 0.21.

On October 31st, Amazon.com announced its most recent earnings results, showing an earnings per share (EPS) of $1.43 for the quarter, surpassing analysts’ predictions of $1.14 by $0.29. Its return on equity was 22.41%, with a net margin of 8.04%. Amazon reported quarterly revenues of $158.88 billion, exceeding the consensus estimate of $157.28 billion. This was an improvement over the same quarter from the previous year, during which the EPS was $0.85.

Overview of Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. is engaged in retail sales of consumer products, advertising, and subscription services through both online and physical stores, operating in North America and internationally. The company has three main segments: North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). Apart from retail, it also develops and sells various electronic devices including Kindle, Fire tablets, and Echo devices, and it produces media content.

Amazon, Stocks, Investment