Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Trading Up 1.5% on Analyst Upgrade

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares were up 1.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Argus raised their price target on the stock from $185.00 to $205.00. Argus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Amazon.com traded as high as $183.19 and last traded at $181.75. Approximately 17,024,916 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the average daily volume of 43,856,266 shares. The stock had previously closed at $179.00.

AMZN has been the subject of several other research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $235.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Amazon.com from $224.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Amazon.com from $180.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Amazon.com from $215.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amazon.com presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $211.07.

Insider Activity

In other Amazon.com news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,009,208 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.79, for a total transaction of $335,115,802.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 938,251,817 shares of the company's stock, valued at $156,491,020,557.43. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 5,998,849 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.16, for a total transaction of $1,020,764,145.84. Following the sale, the insider now owns 982,252,968 shares in the company, valued at approximately $167,140,165,034.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,009,208 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.79, for a total value of $335,115,802.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 938,251,817 shares in the company, valued at $156,491,020,557.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,213,510 shares of company stock worth $5,505,811,286 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AlphaQ Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. AlphaQ Advisors LLC now owns 16,208 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $2,924,000 after purchasing an additional 2,110 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 0.5% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 56,666,183 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $10,221,446,000 after purchasing an additional 295,132 shares during the period. Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Amazon.com by 1.2% during the first quarter. Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc. now owns 33,098 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $5,970,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Hudock Inc. increased its position in shares of Amazon.com by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Hudock Inc. now owns 7,311 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $1,319,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,048 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $1,271,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.15. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $178.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $159.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $143.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $142.65 billion. Amazon.com had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 20.73%. The firm's revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.31 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 4.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.