Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Trading 2.4% Higher – Here’s Why

Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) rose 2.4% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $226.51 and last traded at $225.94. Approximately 42,097,354 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 50% from the average daily volume of 27,997,364 shares. The stock had previously closed at $220.66.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMZN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. HSBC boosted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Amazon.com from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their target price on Amazon.com from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Amazon.com from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. 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 to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $246.85.

Amazon.com Trading Up 2.1 %

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $218.30 and its 200-day moving average is $196.47. The company has a market cap of $2.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 49.40, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In other news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,996,362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.85, for a total transaction of $625,790,203.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 917,416,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $191,602,535,437.60. The trade was a 0.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 5,004 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.85, for a total transaction of $1,000,049.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 99,396 shares in the company, valued at $19,864,290.60. This represents a 4.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 6,032,344 shares of company stock valued at $1,253,456,822. 10.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AMZN. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 3.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 359,179,990 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $66,926,008,000 after buying an additional 11,370,309 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Amazon.com by 3.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 199,915,046 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $37,116,341,000 after acquiring an additional 6,545,944 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 69,686,374 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $13,466,933,000 after acquiring an additional 1,042,177 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Amazon.com by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 57,833,954 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $10,776,201,000 after acquiring an additional 1,984,592 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,308,094 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $10,678,217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,980,663 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

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.