Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Shares Up 1.7% – Should You Buy?

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s stock price shot up 1.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $232.42 and last traded at $231.78. 36,832,885 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 18% from the average session volume of 45,010,918 shares. The stock had previously closed at $227.92.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMZN has been the topic of several recent research reports. China Renaissance lifted their target price on Amazon.com from $278.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $300.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $295.43.

Amazon.com Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.74, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $228.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $224.47.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $180.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $177.53 billion. Amazon.com had a net margin of 11.06% and a return on equity of 23.62%. The business’s revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.43 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amazon.com news, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 8,173 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.03, for a total transaction of $2,043,495.19. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 80,030 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,009,900.90. The trade was a 9.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 17,768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.90, for a total transaction of $3,853,879.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 6,273 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,360,613.70. The trade was a 73.91% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 82,234 shares of company stock valued at $19,076,767. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AMZN. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Amazon.com by 2.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 849,721,601 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $186,420,422,000 after buying an additional 17,447,045 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 381,681,441 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $83,805,794,000 after acquiring an additional 7,584,156 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 216,717,657 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $47,332,625,000 after acquiring an additional 3,721,658 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings in Amazon.com by 542,733.6% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 132,641,388 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $29,100,194,000 after acquiring an additional 132,616,953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the 2nd quarter worth $27,438,011,000. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.