Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. Has $15.85 Million Stake in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. lessened its stake in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 72,252 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after selling 3,314 shares during the period. Amazon.com accounts for 1.7% of Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.'s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.'s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $15,851,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in Amazon.com by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 356,539 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $66,434,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 5.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 20,166,314 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $3,757,589,000 after buying an additional 984,570 shares during the period. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Amazon.com during the third quarter worth about $14,648,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in Amazon.com during the third quarter valued at about $908,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment raised its holdings in Amazon.com by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 764,441 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $142,000 after acquiring an additional 74,806 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $257.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $287.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $280.00 to $245.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Barclays dropped their target price on Amazon.com from $265.00 to $240.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Amazon.com from $248.00 to $245.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and forty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Amazon.com presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $244.09.

Amazon.com Price Performance

Shares of AMZN stock traded up $0.42 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $205.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 43,001,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 41,940,570. Amazon.com, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $151.61 and a fifty-two week high of $242.52. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $189.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $208.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market capitalization of $2.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.18, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.30.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.21. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 9.29%. The business had revenue of $155.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $154.96 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Amazon.com's revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In other Amazon.com news, Director Keith Brian Alexander sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.68, for a total transaction of $210,680.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,151,366.20. The trade was a 15.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 5,501 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.44, for a total value of $1,256,648.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 505,318 shares of the company's stock, valued at $115,434,843.92. This represents a 1.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 80,798 shares of company stock valued at $17,696,733. 9.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.