Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Lowered to “Moderate Buy” Rating by Phillip Securities

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) was downgraded by analysts at Phillip Securities from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on AMZN. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Redburn Atlantic upped their price target on Amazon.com from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $240.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Two equities research 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $260.74.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

AMZN opened at $228.93 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.40, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.15. Amazon.com has a 52-week low of $151.61 and a 52-week high of $242.52. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $227.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $201.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 25.49% and a net margin of 9.29%. Equities analysts anticipate that Amazon.com will post 6.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

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 transaction of $735,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 524,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,159,070. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 4,351 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.85, for a total transaction of $1,000,077.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 88,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,273,459.55. This trade represents a 4.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,850 shares of company stock valued at $6,168,581 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amazon.com

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MIG Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,561,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Amazon.com by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 124,798 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $27,379,000 after buying an additional 1,704 shares during the last quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its holdings in Amazon.com by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 1,402,716 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $307,742,000 after buying an additional 300,000 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Amazon.com by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 8,847,683 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $1,942,200,000 after buying an additional 798,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rahlfs Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the fourth quarter worth $2,124,000. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.