Jennison Associates LLC Trims Position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Key Points

• Jennison Associates LLC has reduced its stake in Amazon.com, Inc. by 8.4%, now holding approximately 48.4 million shares, which represents 6.5% of its investment portfolio.
• Several hedge funds have increased their positions in Amazon.com, indicating strong institutional interest, with these funds collectively owning 72.20% of the company's stock.
• Wall Street analysts maintain an average rating of "Buy" for Amazon, with price targets ranging from $244.00 to $300.00 after recent earnings surpassed expectations.

Jennison Associates LLC lessened its position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) by 8.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,409,201 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after selling 4,425,406 shares during the period. Amazon.com makes up about 6.5% of Jennison Associates LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 0.46% of Amazon.com worth $9,210,335,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Western Wealth Management LLC increased its position 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 worth $26,660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,297 shares in the last quarter. Momentous Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Amazon.com during the fourth quarter worth $749,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Amazon.com during the first quarter worth $514,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its holdings in 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 worth $69,572,000 after purchasing an additional 39,696 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bearing Point Capital LLC acquired a new position in Amazon.com during the fourth quarter worth $12,014,000. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMZN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Pivotal Research increased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $260.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $271.00 target price (up previously from $249.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Monday, July 28th. Citizens Jmp initiated coverage on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, July 10th. They set a "strong-buy" rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Roth Capital set a $250.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $262.87.

Amazon.com Price Performance

AMZN stock traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $231.03. The stock had a trading volume of 39,600,434 shares, compared to its average volume of 47,994,872. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 52 week low of $161.38 and a 52 week high of $242.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $221.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $208.64.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.37. The company 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 23.84%. The firm's revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In related news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,643,142 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.43, for a total transaction of $609,059,211.06. Following the sale, the insider directly 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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 2,500 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.00, for a total transaction of $542,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 512,050 shares in the company, valued at $111,114,850. This trade represents a 0.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,096,253 shares of company stock worth $5,673,745,409 over the last ninety days. 9.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.