Morgan Stanley Raises Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Price Target to $300.00

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) had its price objective hoisted by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $250.00 to $300.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "overweight" rating on the e-commerce giant's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 33.32% from the stock's current price.

AMZN has been the topic of several other research reports. BNP Paribas Exane raised Amazon.com from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $254.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Amazon.com from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Amazon.com from $235.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Amazon.com from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amazon.com currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $249.42.

Amazon.com Trading Up 1.2%

NASDAQ:AMZN traded up $2.76 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $225.02. 50,481,094 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 42,135,277. The firm's fifty day moving average is $209.90 and its 200-day moving average is $208.49. Amazon.com has a 12-month low of $151.61 and a 12-month high of $242.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.33. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $155.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $154.96 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 24.14% and a net margin of 10.14%. Amazon.com's quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Amazon.com will post 6.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Shelley Reynolds sold 2,695 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.79, for a total transaction of $541,129.05. Following the sale, the vice president owned 119,780 shares in the company, valued at $24,050,626.20. This trade represents a 2.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 13,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.41, for a total value of $2,746,703.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 47,030 shares in the company, valued at $9,519,342.30. This trade represents a 22.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,886,613 shares of company stock worth $1,531,840,610 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 9.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Amazon.com

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AMZN. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Amazon.com during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Carderock Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Amazon.com during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Amazon.com during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Perritt Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Amazon.com by 72.7% during the fourth quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 190 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooksen Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Amazon.com during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company's stock.

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.