Rational Advisors Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Key Points

• Rational Advisors Inc. sold 2,077 shares of Amazon.com, Inc., reducing its holdings by 3.8%, and now owns approximately 52,098 shares worth about $9.91 million.
• CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 2,500 shares of Amazon stock for over $542,500, while Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2.64 million shares valued at $609 million in recent transactions.
• Amazon reported strong financial performance with $1.68 earnings per share, beating analysts' expectations, and a revenue of $167.70 billion for the last quarter.

Rational Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) by 3.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 52,098 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after selling 2,077 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com makes up 1.0% of Rational Advisors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Rational Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $9,912,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AMZN. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Amazon.com in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Amazon.com in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Perritt Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Amazon.com by 72.7% in the 4th quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 190 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Cooksen Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Amazon.com in the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Amazon.com in the 1st quarter valued at $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.00, for a total value of $542,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 512,050 shares in the company, valued at $111,114,850. This represents a 0.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,643,142 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 883,779,901 shares in the company, valued at $203,649,402,587.43. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,101,037 shares of company stock worth $5,674,726,368 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMZN has been the topic of a number of research reports. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Amazon.com from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $254.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, June 27th. Citizens Jmp began coverage on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, July 10th. They issued a "strong-buy" rating on the stock. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, August 1st. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $270.00 to $260.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $265.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $262.45.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMZN traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $221.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,934,306 shares, compared to its average volume of 44,775,840. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.31. Amazon.com, Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.38 and a twelve month high of $242.52. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $219.94 and a 200 day moving average of $208.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.37. The firm 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.