Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Stock Price Up 1.7% Following Analyst Upgrade

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares rose 1.7% during trading on Thursday after Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on the stock from $235.00 to $265.00. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Amazon.com traded as high as $225.61 and last traded at $224.30. Approximately 10,892,030 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 41,107,539 shares. The stock had previously closed at $220.52.

AMZN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $221.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wedbush upped their price target on Amazon.com from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Maxim Group lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $251.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $197.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.00.

Insider Activity

In other Amazon.com news, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.06, for a total transaction of $246,237.22. Following the sale, the director now owns 24,912 shares in the company, valued at $4,958,982.72. This represents a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 2,190 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was 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 directly owns 62,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,171,900. This represents a 3.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 6,034,534 shares of company stock worth $1,253,883,872. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 20.5% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 150,661 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 25,581 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp grew its stake in Amazon.com by 64.6% during the 2nd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 163 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in Amazon.com in the third quarter worth $37,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC bought a new stake in Amazon.com in the third quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the 3rd quarter worth about $56,000. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Amazon.com Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $205.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $190.98.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.29. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 22.41% and a net margin of 8.04%. 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 previous year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.29 earnings per share 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.