Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors purchased 691,824 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 29% compared to the typical volume of 534,726 call options.

Amazon.com Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of AMZN stock traded up $4.33 on Tuesday, reaching $201.45. 40,685,672 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 41,550,199. Amazon.com has a one year low of $142.81 and a one year high of $215.90. The company has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.14, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The company has a 50-day moving average of $193.33 and a 200-day moving average of $186.38.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.29. Amazon.com had a net margin of 8.04% and a return on equity of 22.41%. The firm had revenue of $158.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Amazon.com will post 5.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP David Zapolsky sold 2,190 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.00, for a total transaction of $427,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 62,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,171,900. This trade represents a 3.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.06, for a total transaction of $246,237.22. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,912 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,958,982.72. This represents a 4.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 6,026,683 shares of company stock valued at $1,252,148,795 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 38,949,065 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Amazon.com by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 785,811,114 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $141,744,609,000 after purchasing an additional 14,724,687 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Amazon.com during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,239,757,000. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 64.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,359,677 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $5,295,899,000 after acquiring an additional 11,524,463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 82,457.3% in the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 11,405,294 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $2,125,148,000 after purchasing an additional 11,391,479 shares during the period. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $224.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Maxim Group upped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $251.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $245.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.20.

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.