Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Upgraded to "Buy" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Amazon.com has been upgraded to a "buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, indicating a positive outlook for the stock's performance.
• Multiple analysts have raised their price targets for Amazon, with a consensus average target price of $260.85 and a majority rating the stock favorably.
• In its recent quarterly earnings report, Amazon achieved $1.68 earnings per share, surpassing estimates, and reported a 13.3% year-over-year revenue increase.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report released on Saturday.

AMZN has been the topic of a number of other research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Moffett Nathanson lifted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $238.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $235.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $260.85.

Amazon.com Price Performance

Shares of AMZN opened at $214.75 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.74, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.31. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $218.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $209.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.05. Amazon.com has a twelve month low of $151.61 and a twelve month high of $242.52.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $167.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.80 billion. Amazon.com had a net margin of 10.54% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Amazon.com will post 6.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

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 value of $960,666,409.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 897,722,088 shares of the company's stock, valued at $201,816,902,603.28. The trade was a 0.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 25,099,537 shares of company stock valued at $5,674,394,548 over the last three months. Insiders own 9.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 5.4% in the second quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust now owns 17,487 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $3,836,000 after buying an additional 902 shares during the last quarter. Motco raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 2.7% in the second quarter. Motco now owns 67,759 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $15,863,000 after buying an additional 1,804 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 7.0% in the second quarter. Cedar Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,628 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Fire Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 2.5% in the second quarter. Fire Capital Management LLC now owns 16,751 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $3,675,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Biltmore Family Office LLC raised its holdings in Amazon.com by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Biltmore Family Office LLC now owns 20,868 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $4,578,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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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