Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Upgraded to "Outperform" at BNP Paribas Exane

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) was upgraded by investment analysts at BNP Paribas Exane from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report released on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm presently has a $254.00 target price on the e-commerce giant's stock. BNP Paribas Exane's price objective points to a potential upside of 16.99% from the stock's current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on AMZN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Citizens Jmp cut their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $285.00 to $240.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $285.00 to $255.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Amazon.com from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Amazon.com from $280.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and forty-five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $245.81.

Amazon.com Price Performance

Shares of AMZN opened at $217.12 on Friday. The company's 50-day moving average is $201.25 and its 200-day moving average is $209.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.31 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.36, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.33. Amazon.com has a fifty-two week low of $151.61 and a fifty-two week high of $242.52.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 24.14% and a net margin of 10.14%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Amazon.com will post 6.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In other Amazon.com news, VP Shelley Reynolds sold 2,695 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.79, for a total transaction of $541,129.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 119,780 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $24,050,626.20. The trade was a 2.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.98, for a total transaction of $512,450.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 517,050 shares of the company's stock, valued at $105,984,909. This trade represents a 0.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 102,037 shares of company stock worth $20,531,075. 9.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AMZN. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,266,582,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the first quarter valued at $11,674,091,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Amazon.com by 21,420.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 30,245,061 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $5,754,425,000 after buying an additional 30,104,520 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake 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 worth $14,416,078,000 after purchasing an additional 17,681,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 823,360,597 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $180,637,081,000 after buying an additional 17,635,391 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company's stock.

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.

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