Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Shares Down 2.5% on Insider Selling

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)'s stock price fell 2.5% on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $203.22 and last traded at $204.94. 20,820,158 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 50% from the average session volume of 41,908,378 shares. The stock had previously closed at $210.25.

Specifically, Director Keith Brian Alexander sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.68, for a total value of $210,680.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,151,366.20. This trade represents a 15.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AMZN. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. BNP Paribas raised Amazon.com to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Amazon.com from $306.00 to $250.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Amazon.com from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Amazon.com from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and forty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Amazon.com has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $244.09.

Amazon.com Stock Down 2.8%

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $208.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.89, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

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

Institutional Trading of Amazon.com

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 0.3% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 356,539 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $66,434,000 after buying an additional 897 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 5.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 20,166,314 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $3,757,589,000 after buying an additional 984,570 shares during the period. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Amazon.com in the third quarter valued at about $14,648,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the third quarter worth about $908,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment increased its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 10.8% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 764,441 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $142,000 after acquiring an additional 74,806 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.

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