Short Interest in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Declines By 13.7%

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 70,760,000 shares, a drop of 13.7% from the January 15th total of 81,980,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 37,750,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Amazon.com Price Performance

NASDAQ AMZN opened at $228.68 on Monday. Amazon.com has a 12 month low of $151.61 and a 12 month high of $242.52. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.15. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $228.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $202.44.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.34. Amazon.com had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 25.49%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Amazon.com will post 6.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total value of $735,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 524,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,159,070. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,958,982.72. This represents a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 51,848 shares of company stock valued at $11,368,639. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Amazon.com by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 823,360,597 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $180,637,081,000 after buying an additional 17,635,391 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Amazon.com by 3.3% in 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 buying an additional 11,370,309 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Amazon.com by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 328,464,225 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $72,061,766,000 after buying an additional 1,725,664 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Amazon.com by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 204,930,426 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $44,837,256,000 after buying an additional 5,015,380 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Amazon.com by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 182,813,905 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $40,107,544,000 after buying an additional 4,087,933 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Amazon.com from $230.00 to $264.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Amazon.com from $236.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays increased their price target on Amazon.com from $235.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Amazon.com from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $260.74.

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.