Stifel Nicolaus Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Stock

Key Points

• Stifel Nicolaus has raised its price target for Amazon.com from $245.00 to $262.00, suggesting a potential upside of 12.55% from the current stock price, while maintaining a "buy" rating.
• The consensus rating for Amazon's stock is a "Moderate Buy," with 45 analysts rating it as a buy and a price target averaging $255.06.
• Insider trading activity included Jeffrey Bezos selling over 4 million shares, valued at approximately $960 million, reducing his ownership stake by 0.47%.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) had its target price increased by equities researchers at Stifel Nicolaus from $245.00 to $262.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the e-commerce giant's stock. Stifel Nicolaus' price target would suggest a potential upside of 12.55% from the company's current price.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $235.00 target price on Amazon.com and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. BNP Paribas upgraded Amazon.com from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Amazon.com from $255.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Amazon.com from $226.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective 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. Three investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $255.06.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

AMZN stock opened at $232.79 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The business has a 50 day moving average of $216.19 and a 200-day moving average of $208.82. Amazon.com has a 12-month low of $151.61 and a 12-month high of $242.52.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.21. The company 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 quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Amazon.com will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 4,273,237 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.81, for a total value of $960,666,409.97. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 897,722,088 shares of the company's stock, valued at $201,816,902,603.28. This trade represents a 0.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 25,102,037 shares of company stock worth $5,674,871,223 over the last quarter. 9.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Amazon.com

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AMZN. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 542,733.6% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 132,641,388 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $29,100,194,000 after purchasing an additional 132,616,953 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the fourth quarter worth about $27,266,582,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the first quarter worth about $11,674,091,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 21,420.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 30,245,061 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $5,754,425,000 after purchasing an additional 30,104,520 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its position in Amazon.com by 36.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 65,709,496 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $14,416,078,000 after acquiring an additional 17,681,004 shares in the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

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