Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the forty-four ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, forty-one have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $252.56.

Several analysts have recently commented on AMZN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $230.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $230.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $246.00 to $306.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th.

Amazon.com Stock Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $238.83 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 51.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.15. Amazon.com has a twelve month low of $151.61 and a twelve month high of $242.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company’s 50 day moving average is $225.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $200.03.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.34. Amazon.com had a net margin of 8.04% and a return on equity of 22.41%. Analysts anticipate that Amazon.com will post 5.3 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amazon.com news, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of Amazon.com 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,912 shares in the company, valued at $4,958,982.72. This trade represents a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 4,351 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.85, for a total transaction of $1,000,077.35. Following the sale, the director now owns 88,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,273,459.55. This represents a 4.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,026,212 shares of company stock valued at $625,666,424 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 83,866 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $18,399,000 after purchasing an additional 7,257 shares in the last quarter. Opulen Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,610,000. SP Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. SP Asset Management LLC now owns 132,325 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $29,031,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 27.2% in the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 23,003 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $5,049,000 after purchasing an additional 4,913 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 81,338 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $17,845,000 after purchasing an additional 2,234 shares in the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.