Monness Crespi & Hardt Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Stock

Key Points

• Monness Crespi & Hardt has raised its price target for Amazon.com (AMZN) from $265.00 to $275.00, indicating a potential upside of 17.47% based on the company’s previous close.
• The company reported $1.68 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing expectations of $1.31, with revenues reaching $167.70 billion, compared to a forecast of $161.80 billion.
• Retail giant Amazon has a consensus price target of $257.21, with 45 analysts rating the stock as a buy, and only three analysts recommending a hold.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) had its price target raised by equities research analysts at Monness Crespi & Hardt from $265.00 to $275.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a "buy" rating on the e-commerce giant's stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt's price objective suggests a potential upside of 28.06% from the company's current price.

AMZN has been the topic of several other reports. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Amazon.com from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $254.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, June 27th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $248.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. HSBC lifted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $240.00 to $256.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $235.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $260.85.

Amazon.com Trading Down 8.3%

Shares of NASDAQ: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 business's 50-day simple moving average is $218.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $209.21. Amazon.com has a 52 week low of $151.61 and a 52 week high of $242.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $167.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $161.80 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 10.54%. Amazon.com's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Amazon.com will post 6.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In other news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 4,273,237 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, 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

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust now owns 17,487 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $3,836,000 after purchasing an additional 902 shares in the last quarter. Motco raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Motco now owns 67,759 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $15,863,000 after purchasing an additional 1,804 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Amazon.com by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,628 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Fire Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Amazon.com by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fire Capital Management LLC now owns 16,751 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $3,675,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Biltmore Family Office LLC grew its position in shares of Amazon.com by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Biltmore Family Office LLC now owns 20,868 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $4,578,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during 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.