Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Shares Up 0.5% on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares traded up 0.5% on Thursday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock traded as high as $239.50 and last traded at $237.32. 12,447,319 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 61% from the average session volume of 32,057,291 shares. The stock had previously closed at $236.17.

The e-commerce giant reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.34. Amazon.com had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 25.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AMZN. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $275.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday. HSBC upped their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Amazon.com from $265.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Amazon.com from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $260.20.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 15,260 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,996,362 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.75, for a total transaction of $619,497,843.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 914,420,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $189,056,461,944.50. This trade represents a 0.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,026,212 shares of company stock worth $625,666,424. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 359,179,990 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $66,926,008,000 after purchasing an additional 11,370,309 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 199,915,046 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $37,116,341,000 after acquiring an additional 6,545,944 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1.5% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 69,686,374 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $13,466,933,000 after acquiring an additional 1,042,177 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 67,092,427 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $14,719,407,000 after purchasing an additional 545,292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Amazon.com by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 59,638,207 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $13,084,026,000 after purchasing an additional 2,330,113 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $226.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $200.62. The company has a market capitalization of $2.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

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.