Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Sets New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday after Raymond James raised their price target on the stock from $230.00 to $260.00. Raymond James currently has a strong-buy rating on the stock. Amazon.com traded as high as $235.44 and last traded at $235.02, with a volume of 10857036 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $230.71.

AMZN has been the topic of several other research reports. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Moffett Nathanson boosted their target price on Amazon.com from $235.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group raised their price target on Amazon.com from $230.00 to $264.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Amazon.com from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $246.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.06, for a total value of $246,237.22. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,958,982.72. This represents a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 5,004 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.85, for a total value of $1,000,049.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 99,396 shares in the company, valued at $19,864,290.60. This represents a 4.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,032,344 shares of company stock valued at $1,253,456,822 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stelac Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Amazon.com by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Stelac Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,924 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $952,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 235,717 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $45,552,000 after buying an additional 14,769 shares during the last quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. now owns 524,412 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $101,342,000 after purchasing an additional 11,570 shares during the period. Callahan Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Amazon.com by 2.7% during the second quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 206,272 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $39,862,000 after purchasing an additional 5,350 shares during the period. Finally, Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE bought a new stake in Amazon.com in the second quarter valued at approximately $464,000. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Amazon.com Stock Up 1.9 %

The firm has a market cap of $2.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $218.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $196.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.29. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 22.41% and a net margin of 8.04%. The company had revenue of $158.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.39 EPS 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.