Virtue Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Virtue Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 20,806 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after selling 1,876 shares during the period. Amazon.com makes up about 0.8% of Virtue Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Virtue Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $3,877,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AMZN. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 359,179,990 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $66,926,008,000 after purchasing an additional 11,370,309 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 199,915,046 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $37,116,341,000 after purchasing an additional 6,545,944 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 69,686,374 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $13,466,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042,177 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 0.4% in the 2nd 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 during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 3.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,984,592 shares during the period. 72.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on AMZN. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Pivotal Research began coverage on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $197.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $245.65.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In other news, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were 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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 5,502 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.81, for a total transaction of $1,132,366.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,911 shares in the company, valued at $106,797,072.91. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 6,032,344 shares of company stock valued at $1,253,456,822. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Amazon.com Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of AMZN stock opened at $223.35 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $2.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 47.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50-day moving average of $217.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $195.74. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.91 and a 1-year high of $233.00.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $158.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.28 billion. Amazon.com had a net margin of 8.04% and a return on equity of 22.41%. Amazon.com’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.29 EPS for the current year.

Amazon.com 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.