MetLife Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

MetLife Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,851,222 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after selling 24,838 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com accounts for about 3.0% of MetLife Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $531,268,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMZN. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Amazon.com by 20.5% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 150,661 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 25,581 shares during the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in Amazon.com by 64.6% during the 2nd quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 163 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new position in Amazon.com during the third quarter worth $37,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC acquired a new position in Amazon.com in the third quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Amazon.com during the third quarter valued at $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Trading Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $222.11 on Wednesday. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 12 month low of $146.15 and a 12 month high of $233.00. The stock has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $214.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $194.73. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $158.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.29 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Maxim Group boosted their price target on Amazon.com from $251.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $224.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $235.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Amazon.com from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $243.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 5,502 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $106,797,072.91. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,996,362 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.85, for a total transaction of $625,790,203.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 917,416,976 shares in the company, valued at $191,602,535,437.60. This trade represents a 0.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,032,344 shares of company stock worth $1,253,456,822 in the last three months. Insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

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.