Essex Financial Services Inc. Sells 2,219 Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Essex Financial Services Inc. cut its position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) by 1.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 117,341 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after selling 2,219 shares during the period. Amazon.com makes up 1.6% of Essex Financial Services Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Essex Financial Services Inc.'s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $22,325,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 2.1% in the first quarter. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC now owns 8,984 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $1,709,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 0.6% in the first quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co now owns 67,589 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $12,859,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the period. Prakash Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1.9% in the first quarter. Prakash Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,100 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $6,678,000 after buying an additional 650 shares during the last quarter. Financial Insights Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 2.1% in the first quarter. Financial Insights Inc. now owns 12,860 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $2,447,000 after buying an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 28.2% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 30,973 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $5,904,000 after buying an additional 6,820 shares during the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amazon.com Trading Down 0.8%

NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $227.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $213.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $208.51. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 12-month low of $151.61 and a 12-month high of $242.52. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $155.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $154.96 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 24.14% and a net margin of 10.14%. Amazon.com's revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In other Amazon.com news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 733,195 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.02, for a total transaction of $166,449,928.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 894,546,706 shares of the company's stock, valued at $203,079,993,196.12. The trade was a 0.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 2,500 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.06, for a total value of $550,150.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 514,550 shares in the company, valued at $113,231,873. This trade represents a 0.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,335,232 shares of company stock valued at $3,210,622,570 over the last ninety days. 10.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on AMZN shares. Barclays lowered their target price on Amazon.com from $265.00 to $240.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho lowered their target price on Amazon.com from $285.00 to $255.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. HSBC upped their target price on Amazon.com from $240.00 to $256.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on Amazon.com from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $253.98.

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.

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