Amazon.com’s (AMZN) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $205.00 price target on the e-commerce giant’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on AMZN. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $215.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $224.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Benchmark reissued a buy rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amazon.com has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $215.86.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $197.20 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.24, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.15. Amazon.com has a 12 month low of $118.35 and a 12 month high of $199.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $183.87 and its 200 day moving average is $173.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $143.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $142.65 billion. Amazon.com had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 19.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.31 EPS. Research analysts predict that Amazon.com will post 4.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amazon.com

In other Amazon.com news, VP Shelley Reynolds sold 2,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.39, for a total transaction of $489,753.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 119,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,726,894.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Adam Selipsky sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $92,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 131,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,214,400. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Shelley Reynolds sold 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.39, for a total transaction of $489,753.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 119,780 shares in the company, valued at $21,726,894.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,548 shares of company stock valued at $12,180,239 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amazon.com

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Amazon.com during the fourth quarter worth about $17,700,551,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Amazon.com by 4.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 757,951,795 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $96,350,832,000 after purchasing an additional 32,038,029 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Amazon.com by 16,029.3% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 23,865,216 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $36,260,810,000 after purchasing an additional 23,717,254 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Amazon.com by 7.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 302,101,441 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $38,403,135,000 after purchasing an additional 21,649,871 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Amazon.com during the first quarter worth about $2,239,757,000. 72.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.