Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Stock Price Down 8.7% Following Insider Selling

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares were down 8.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $176.92 and last traded at $178.92. Approximately 42,136,022 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 5% from the average daily volume of 40,083,354 shares. The stock had previously closed at $196.01.

Specifically, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.99, for a total value of $469,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 509,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,776,017.26. This trade represents a 0.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on AMZN. HSBC upped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $235.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Amazon.com from $260.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Amazon.com from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $260.53.

Amazon.com Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $212.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $208.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.39.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.34. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 9.29%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Amazon.com

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the fourth quarter worth $27,266,582,000. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Amazon.com by 36.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 65,709,496 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $14,416,078,000 after acquiring an additional 17,681,004 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 823,360,597 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $180,637,081,000 after purchasing an additional 17,635,391 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Amazon.com by 17,054.5% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,088,589 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $2,652,116,000 after buying an additional 12,018,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 26.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 57,268,523 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $12,564,961,000 after buying an additional 12,000,745 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

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.