Amazon.com Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Key Points

• Amazon.com experienced unusually high options trading on Friday, with 673,911 call options purchased, a 9% increase over its average daily volume.
• Insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold over 4 million shares of Amazon stock for approximately $960 million, resulting in a 0.47% decrease in his overall position in the company.
• Institutional investors continue to show strong interest, with 72.20% of Amazon's stock now held by institutional investors and various firms increasing their stakes during the fourth quarter.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors acquired 673,911 call options on the company. Thisisanincreaseofapproximately9% compared to the typical daily volume of 619,655 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AMZN shares. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas raised Amazon.com from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Roth Capital set a $250.00 price target on Amazon.com and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Amazon.com from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on Amazon.com from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amazon.com currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $260.85.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

AMZN traded down $19.36 on Friday, hitting $214.75. 122,007,379 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 37,811,656. The firm has a market cap of $2.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.31. Amazon.com has a twelve month low of $151.61 and a twelve month high of $242.52. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $218.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $209.21. 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, July 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.37. Amazon.com had a net margin of 10.54% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The company had revenue of $167.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. Amazon.com's revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Amazon.com will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amazon.com news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,643,142 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.43, for a total value of $609,059,211.06. Following the sale, the insider owned 883,779,901 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $203,649,402,587.43. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,099,537 shares of company stock valued at $5,674,394,548. 9.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Western Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 0.9% during the first quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 140,122 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $26,660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,297 shares during the period. Momentous Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $749,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the first quarter valued at approximately $514,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 317,114 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $69,572,000 after acquiring an additional 39,696 shares during the period. Finally, Bearing Point Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $12,014,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.