Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Receives "Market Outperform" Rating from JMP Securities

Key Points

• JMP Securities has reaffirmed Amazon.com's stock rating as "market outperform," setting a price target of $285.00, indicating a potential upside of 30.79% from its previous close.
• Amazon reported earnings of $1.68 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding expectations of $1.31, with revenue reaching $167.70 billion, a year-over-year increase of 13.3%.
• The stock has a current average rating of "Moderate Buy" with a consensus target price of $259.08, supported by multiple buy ratings from various research analysts.

JMP Securities reiterated their market outperform rating on shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $285.00 target price on the e-commerce giant's stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson decreased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $280.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $245.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $260.85.

Amazon.com Stock Down 8.3%

AMZN traded down $19.36 on Friday, reaching $214.75. 122,007,379 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 37,811,656. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $218.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $209.21. Amazon.com has a 52-week low of $151.61 and a 52-week high of $242.52. The company has a market cap of $2.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.74, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.37. Amazon.com had a net margin of 10.54% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The firm had revenue of $167.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.26 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amazon.com will post 6.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 4,273,237 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.81, for a total value of $960,666,409.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 897,722,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $201,816,902,603.28. This represents a 0.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 25,099,537 shares of company stock valued at $5,674,394,548. Corporate insiders own 9.70% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amazon.com

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AMZN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 832,274,556 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $158,348,557,000 after purchasing an additional 8,913,959 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing 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 during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 182,813,905 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $40,107,544,000 after purchasing an additional 4,087,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 542,733.6% in the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 132,641,388 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $29,100,194,000 after purchasing an additional 132,616,953 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company's stock.

About Amazon.com

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.