Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Stock Price Up 1% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) traded up 1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $203.21 and last traded at $203.10. 8,310,394 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 38,337,613 shares. The stock had previously closed at $201.13.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AMZN. Maxim Group boosted their price target on Amazon.com from $260.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. HSBC lifted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $245.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $236.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $230.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $260.65.

Amazon.com Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The firm has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s 50 day moving average is $217.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $208.80.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.34. Amazon.com had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 24.25%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In other Amazon.com news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 27,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.27, for a total transaction of $6,332,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 497,067 shares in the company, valued at $114,459,618.09. This represents a 5.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Brian T. Olsavsky sold 14,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.14, for a total value of $3,262,306.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 49,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,933,860. This represents a 22.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 102,298 shares of company stock valued at $22,871,828 over the last 90 days. 10.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amazon.com

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Amazon.com in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,266,582,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 20,897.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 39,135,449 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $72,921,080,000 after acquiring an additional 38,949,065 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Amazon.com by 36.8% in the fourth 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. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Amazon.com by 2.2% during 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. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Amazon.com by 17,054.5% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,088,589 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $2,652,116,000 after purchasing an additional 12,018,120 shares in the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.