Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Shares Sold by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV reduced its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 29.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,131,384 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after selling 2,189,826 shares during the period. Amazon.com accounts for about 3.0% of KBC Group NV's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. KBC Group NV's holdings in Amazon.com were worth $976,297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AMZN. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Amazon.com during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Amazon.com during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Perritt Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 72.7% during the fourth quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 190 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Amazon.com during the first quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Capitol Family Office Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the first quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Amazon.com from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $254.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $265.00 to $240.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $255.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $280.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $253.98.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 20,923 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.30, for a total value of $4,211,799.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 4,273,237 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.81, for a total transaction of $960,666,409.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 897,722,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $201,816,902,603.28. This trade represents a 0.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 14,335,232 shares of company stock worth $3,210,622,570. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

Shares of Amazon.com stock opened at $227.47 on Wednesday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $213.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $208.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.05, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.33. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 12 month low of $151.61 and a 12 month 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.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.21. Amazon.com had a net margin of 10.14% and a return on equity of 24.14%. The business had revenue of $155.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $154.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

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