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

Key Points

• Wedbush analysts have raised their price target for Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) from $235 to $250, indicating a potential upside of 8.1% based on current prices.
• In total, forty-five analysts have given Amazon a buy rating, with a consensus target price of $255.52, reflecting strong market confidence.
• Insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold over 4 million shares valued at approximately $960 million, decreasing his stake by 0.47% while still holding a substantial amount of shares.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) had its price target lifted by Wedbush from $235.00 to $250.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the e-commerce giant's stock. Wedbush's target price indicates a potential upside of 8.61% from the company's current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Citizens Jmp assumed coverage on Amazon.com in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. They set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Amazon.com from $233.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. JMP Securities upped their target price on Amazon.com from $250.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Piper Sandler set a $250.00 price objective on Amazon.com and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $235.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-five have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amazon.com has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $255.52.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

AMZN traded down $0.82 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $230.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 32,258,949 shares, compared to its average volume of 33,970,456. Amazon.com has a 52-week low of $151.61 and a 52-week high of $242.52. The company's fifty day moving average price is $217.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $209.12. The company has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.33. 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 (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $155.67 billion for 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%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Amazon.com will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amazon.com news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 4,273,237 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.81, for a total value of $960,666,409.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 897,722,088 shares of the company's stock, valued at $201,816,902,603.28. This represents a 0.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 25,102,037 shares of company stock valued at $5,674,871,223. Corporate insiders own 9.70% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amazon.com

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. grew its stake in Amazon.com by 0.4% in the second quarter. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 12,565 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $2,763,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Amazon.com by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,353 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $1,613,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Amazon.com by 0.5% in the second quarter. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,399 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $1,843,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Amazon.com by 0.4% in the second quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 12,157 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $2,667,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balanced Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Amazon.com by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,966 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $705,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company's stock.

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.