Advisors Capital Management LLC Grows Stake in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 479,782 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after acquiring an additional 35,533 shares during the period. Amazon.com makes up about 1.7% of Advisors Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Advisors Capital Management LLC's holdings in Amazon.com were worth $105,259,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 823,360,597 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $180,637,081,000 after purchasing an additional 17,635,391 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 328,464,225 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $72,061,766,000 after acquiring an additional 1,725,664 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 204,930,426 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $44,837,256,000 after purchasing an additional 5,015,380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the 4th quarter valued at $27,266,582,000. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 20,784 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.65, for a total value of $4,585,989.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,118,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $467,532,195.90. This trade represents a 0.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 2,500 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.99, for a total value of $469,975.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 509,474 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $95,776,017.26. This trade represents a 0.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 104,798 shares of company stock worth $23,341,803. 10.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on AMZN shares. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $245.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Amazon.com from $207.00 to $203.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $275.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $257.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, JMP Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $285.00 to $240.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $252.73.

Amazon.com Price Performance

NASDAQ:AMZN traded down $1.82 on Friday, reaching $172.51. 44,456,290 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 41,741,255. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $199.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $207.97. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 12 month low of $151.61 and a 12 month high of $242.52. The firm has a market cap of $1.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.34. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 9.29%. Equities research analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current year.

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.