HM Payson & Co. Increases Stake in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Key Points

• HM Payson & Co. increased its stake in Amazon.com, Inc. by 7.8% during the first quarter, holding 870,060 shares valued at approximately $165.5 million.
• Insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold over 2.6 million shares of Amazon, reducing his ownership by 0.30% and netting over $609 million.
• Wall Street analysts have shown strong optimism for Amazon, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $255.52.

HM Payson & Co. boosted its holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) by 7.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 870,060 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after acquiring an additional 63,259 shares during the period. Amazon.com accounts for 2.9% of HM Payson & Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. HM Payson & Co.'s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $165,538,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Western Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Amazon.com by 0.9% in the first quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 140,122 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $26,660,000 after purchasing an additional 1,297 shares during the period. Momentous Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Amazon.com in the fourth quarter valued at about $749,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the first quarter valued at about $514,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 39,696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bearing Point Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the fourth quarter valued at about $12,014,000. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Amazon.com from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Amazon.com from $230.00 to $266.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $280.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on Amazon.com from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Amazon.com from $260.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $262.45.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMZN traded down $19.36 during trading on Friday, reaching $214.75. 122,007,379 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 37,811,656. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 52-week low of $151.61 and a 52-week high of $242.52. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $218.20 and a 200-day moving average of $209.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.31.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.37. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 10.54%. The firm had revenue of $167.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $161.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.26 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,643,142 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $203,649,402,587.43. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,099,537 shares of company stock worth $5,674,394,548. Insiders own 9.70% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com 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.