Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Shares Up 1.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after JMP Securities raised their price target on the stock from $250.00 to $285.00. JMP Securities currently has a market outperform rating on the stock. Amazon.com traded as high as $224.29 and last traded at $221.91. Approximately 13,986,526 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 41,946,276 shares. The stock had previously closed at $219.36.

AMZN has been the topic of a number of other reports. BNP Paribas Exane raised Amazon.com from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $254.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 27th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $280.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $248.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Amazon.com presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $247.12.

Insider Activity

In other Amazon.com news, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 20,923 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.30, for a total transaction of $4,211,799.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Brian T. Olsavsky sold 17,750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.57, for a total value of $3,577,867.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 49,000 shares in the company, valued at $9,876,930. This represents a 26.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,886,613 shares of company stock worth $1,531,840,610 in the last 90 days. 9.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AMZN. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Carderock Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Amazon.com during the second quarter worth $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Amazon.com during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Cooksen Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Amazon.com during the first quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com Trading Down 0.1%

The company's fifty day moving average price is $208.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $208.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a market cap of $2.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.33.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.59 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $154.96 billion. Amazon.com had a net margin of 10.14% and a return on equity of 24.14%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.