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

Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) were up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $201.00 to $238.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight 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.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $287.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $285.00 to $255.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Citizens Jmp reduced their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $285.00 to $240.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $235.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $246.41.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 20,923 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.30, for a total transaction of $4,211,799.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Brian T. Olsavsky sold 17,750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.57, for a total value of $3,577,867.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 49,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,876,930. This represents a 26.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 6,401,408 shares of company stock valued at $1,423,159,137. Insiders own 9.70% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amazon.com

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AMZN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Amazon.com in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,266,582,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Amazon.com in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $11,674,091,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 21,420.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 30,245,061 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $5,754,425,000 after acquiring an additional 30,104,520 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 36.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 65,709,496 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $14,416,078,000 after acquiring an additional 17,681,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 823,360,597 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $180,637,081,000 after acquiring an additional 17,635,391 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $207.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $208.58. The firm has a market cap of $2.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 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 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 business had revenue of $155.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $154.96 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 24.14% and a net margin of 10.14%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 EPS for the current 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.