Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Earns “Outperform” Rating from BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets reissued their outperform rating on shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) in a report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $236.00 price objective on the e-commerce giant’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on AMZN. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Pivotal Research assumed coverage on Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $260.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Amazon.com from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Amazon.com from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Amazon.com from $220.00 to $223.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.20.

Amazon.com Price Performance

AMZN stock opened at $220.55 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $196.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $187.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 47.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.16. Amazon.com has a 1 year low of $143.64 and a 1 year high of $222.15.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.29. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 22.41% and a net margin of 8.04%. The firm had revenue of $158.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $157.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Amazon.com will post 5.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In related news, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.06, for a total value of $246,237.22. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 24,912 shares in the company, valued at $4,958,982.72. This trade represents a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total transaction of $735,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 524,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,159,070. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,030,183 shares of company stock worth $1,252,883,795 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AMZN. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Amazon.com by 31.6% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 182,359 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $32,894,000 after acquiring an additional 43,759 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Amazon.com by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 33,729 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $6,084,000 after acquiring an additional 1,081 shares during the period. NWK Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. NWK Group Inc. now owns 69,472 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $12,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481 shares in the last quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC now owns 30,729 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $5,542,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,424 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $2,421,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.