Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Boosts Stake in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund increased its holdings in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) by 1,979.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 273,066 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after buying an additional 259,936 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com accounts for approximately 3.7% of Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund's holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund's holdings in Amazon.com were worth $51,954,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 823,360,597 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $180,637,081,000 after purchasing an additional 17,635,391 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 328,464,225 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $72,061,766,000 after purchasing an additional 1,725,664 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 204,930,426 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $44,837,256,000 after purchasing an additional 5,015,380 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 182,813,905 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $40,107,544,000 after purchasing an additional 4,087,933 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,266,582,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amazon.com

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 2,500 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.06, for a total value of $550,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 514,550 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,231,873. The trade was a 0.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 384,124 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.02, for a total transaction of $86,051,458.48. Following the transaction, the insider owned 901,995,325 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $202,064,992,706.50. This represents a 0.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,886,613 shares of company stock valued at $1,531,840,610 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 9.70% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on AMZN shares. Bank of America lifted their price target on Amazon.com from $230.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $235.00 price target on Amazon.com and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $235.00 price target (up previously from $225.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup restated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday. Finally, Moffett Nathanson raised their price objective on Amazon.com from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $249.42.

Amazon.com Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMZN traded up $2.76 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $225.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 50,481,094 shares, compared to its average volume of 42,089,069. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.05. Amazon.com, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $151.61 and a fifty-two week high of $242.52. The business's 50 day moving average price is $209.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $208.63. The company has a market cap of $2.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.33.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.59 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $155.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $154.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.