Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 7.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,020 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,274 shares during the period. Amazon.com comprises approximately 2.3% of Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $3,544,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AMZN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 785,811,114 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $141,744,609,000 after buying an additional 14,724,687 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Amazon.com by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,982,857 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $15,689,968,000 after acquiring an additional 6,810,145 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in 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 period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Amazon.com by 0.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 67,745,972 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $13,091,909,000 after purchasing an additional 289,532 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Amazon.com by 7.4% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 42,370,172 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $7,642,732,000 after purchasing an additional 2,932,192 shares during the period. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on AMZN. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Amazon.com from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Amazon.com from $245.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their target price on Amazon.com from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Amazon.com from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.77.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In related news, SVP David Zapolsky sold 2,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.00, for a total value of $427,050.00. Following 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.06, for a total value of $246,237.22. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 24,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,958,982.72. This trade represents a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,011,423 shares of company stock worth $1,249,093,896 in the last quarter. 10.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Amazon.com Price Performance

Amazon.com stock opened at $197.12 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 42.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.14. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.81 and a 12-month high of $215.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $193.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $186.31. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $158.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.28 billion. Amazon.com had a net margin of 8.04% and a return on equity of 22.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.27 EPS for the current year.

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.