Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday morning.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Amazon.com from $280.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $280.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, May 2nd. BNP Paribas raised shares of Amazon.com to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, HSBC lifted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and forty-four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $244.09.

Amazon.com Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Amazon.com stock traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $192.49. 19,444,181 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 45,873,914. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $207.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.30. Amazon.com has a twelve month low of $151.61 and a twelve month high of $242.52.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.21. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 9.29%. The company had revenue of $155.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $154.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. Amazon.com's revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Amazon.com will post 6.31 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 2,500 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.67, for a total value of $476,675.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 506,974 shares of the company's stock, valued at $96,664,732.58. The trade was a 0.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Shelley Reynolds sold 8,833 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.47, for a total transaction of $1,965,077.51. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 119,780 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,647,456.60. The trade was a 6.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 107,298 shares of company stock worth $23,818,478 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 9.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AMZN. Sassicaia Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Amazon.com during the 3rd quarter valued at about $279,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its position in Amazon.com by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 356,539 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $66,434,000 after buying an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Amazon.com by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 20,166,314 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $3,757,589,000 after buying an additional 984,570 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 25.1% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 367,604 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $68,485,000 after buying an additional 73,696 shares during the period. Finally, Concentric Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Concentric Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,266 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $2,286,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is 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.