Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Shares Down 1.9% Following Insider Selling

Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) traded down 1.9% on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $199.45 and last traded at $200.75. 9,204,229 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 41,417,996 shares. The stock had previously closed at $204.61.

Specifically, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 5,502 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,797,072.91. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of the business’s 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMZN has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Amazon.com from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Amazon.com from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $213.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Amazon.com from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Benchmark increased their price target on Amazon.com from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $235.77.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $192.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $186.26. The company has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 42.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.14.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $158.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $157.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Amazon.com by 31.6% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 182,359 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $32,894,000 after acquiring an additional 43,759 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in Amazon.com by 3.3% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 33,729 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $6,084,000 after purchasing an additional 1,081 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 3.5% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 260,867 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $47,055,000 after buying an additional 8,754 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Amazon.com by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 9,140 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $1,649,000 after buying an additional 869 shares during the period. Finally, Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC now owns 30,465 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $5,495,000 after buying an additional 878 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

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.