Canaccord Genuity Group Reiterates Buy Rating for Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Key Points

• Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed its "buy" rating for Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) with a target price of $280.00, indicating a potential upside of 19.60% from the stock's previous close.
• Amazon's recent quarterly earnings showed $1.68 earnings per share which exceeded analysts' estimates, with revenue also surpassing expectations at $167.70 billion.
• Insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold over 4.27 million shares of Amazon for approximately $960.67 million, reducing his ownership stake by 0.47%.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group in a research report issued on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $280.00 price target on the e-commerce giant's stock. Canaccord Genuity Group's target price would suggest a potential upside of 30.38% from the stock's previous close.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on AMZN. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $271.00 price objective (up previously from $249.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Monday, July 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Amazon.com from $240.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Amazon.com from $265.00 to $240.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $220.00 to $244.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $260.85.

Amazon.com Price Performance

NASDAQ AMZN traded down $19.36 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $214.75. 122,007,379 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 37,811,656. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $218.20 and a 200-day moving average of $209.11. Amazon.com has a one year low of $151.61 and a one year high of $242.52. The stock has a market cap of $2.28 trillion, a PE 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.37. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 10.54%. The company had revenue of $167.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $161.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Amazon.com will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amazon.com

In related news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 4,273,237 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.81, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 0.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,099,537 shares of company stock worth $5,674,394,548. 9.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 132,616,953 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Amazon.com during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,266,582,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Amazon.com during the 1st quarter worth approximately $11,674,091,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 21,420.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 30,245,061 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $5,754,425,000 after purchasing an additional 30,104,520 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Amazon.com by 36.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 65,709,496 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $14,416,078,000 after buying an additional 17,681,004 shares in the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.