Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $210.00 price target on the e-commerce giant’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on AMZN. Itau BBA Securities lowered Amazon.com from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and set a $186.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on Amazon.com from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Amazon.com from $250.00 to $230.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $220.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Maxim Group lifted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $238.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, forty have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $222.49.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMZN opened at $187.00 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 52.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.14. Amazon.com has a twelve month low of $118.35 and a twelve month high of $201.20. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $179.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $181.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.18. Amazon.com had a net margin of 7.35% and a return on equity of 21.39%. The business had revenue of $147.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $148.63 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Amazon.com will post 4.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In other Amazon.com news, CFO Brian T. Olsavsky sold 14,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $2,628,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 49,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,820,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Brian T. Olsavsky sold 14,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $2,628,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 49,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,820,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 3,500 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.99, for a total transaction of $685,965.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 519,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $101,866,390.47. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 6,104,317 shares of company stock valued at $1,220,621,322. 10.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amazon.com

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the 4th quarter worth about $17,700,551,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Amazon.com by 1.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 785,811,114 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $141,744,609,000 after purchasing an additional 14,724,687 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the 1st quarter valued at $2,239,757,000. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 64.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,359,677 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $5,295,899,000 after buying an additional 11,524,463 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 86,982,857 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $15,689,968,000 after buying an additional 6,810,145 shares during the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.