Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Shares Up 1.8% – Here’s Why

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s share price shot up 1.8% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $226.26 and last traded at $224.53. 15,573,731 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 44% from the average session volume of 27,730,383 shares. The stock had previously closed at $220.66.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on AMZN shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $197.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $245.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $245.65.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 48.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.14. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $217.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $196.30.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $158.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.28 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 22.41% and a net margin of 8.04%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Amazon.com news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,996,362 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.85, for a total value of $625,790,203.70. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 917,416,976 shares in the company, valued at $191,602,535,437.60. The trade was a 0.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 5,004 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.85, for a total value of $1,000,049.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 99,396 shares in the company, valued at $19,864,290.60. This trade represents a 4.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 6,032,344 shares of company stock worth $1,253,456,822. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amazon.com

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 359,179,990 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $66,926,008,000 after acquiring an additional 11,370,309 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 3.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 199,915,046 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $37,116,341,000 after acquiring an additional 6,545,944 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1.5% during the second 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 last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 3.6% during the third 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 worth $10,776,201,000 after acquiring an additional 1,984,592 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 3.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 57,308,094 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $10,678,217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,980,663 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.