Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares gapped down prior to trading on Friday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $212.00 to $207.00. The stock had previously closed at $238.83, but opened at $232.50. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Amazon.com shares last traded at $230.59, with a volume of 26,820,696 shares trading hands.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $275.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Amazon.com from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Amazon.com from $224.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two investment 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 MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $254.80.

Insider Activity

In other Amazon.com news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,996,362 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.75, for a total value of $619,497,843.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 914,420,614 shares in the company, valued at approximately $189,056,461,944.50. The trade was a 0.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 15,260 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.19, for a total transaction of $3,054,899.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 349,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,918,559.59. This represents a 4.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,026,212 shares of company stock worth $625,666,424 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMZN. Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 400.0% in the 4th quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 125 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 20.5% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 150,661 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 25,581 shares during the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in Amazon.com in the third quarter valued at $37,000. Bull Oak Capital LLC bought a new position in Amazon.com during the 3rd quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Quattro Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Amazon.com by 23.8% during the 4th quarter. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC now owns 234 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 49.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $226.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $200.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.34. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 22.41% and a net margin of 8.04%. On average, analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current 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.