Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Purchases 404,872 Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 176.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 633,909 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 404,872 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com comprises about 1.0% of Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $139,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMZN. Carderock Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Amazon.com during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 81.9% in the 2nd quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 211 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Ryan Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the 2nd quarter valued at about $48,000. Cooksen Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 23.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cooksen Wealth LLC now owns 247 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the 1st quarter valued at about $59,000. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 17,768 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.90, for a total transaction of $3,853,879.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 6,273 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,360,613.70. The trade was a 73.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.61, for a total value of $280,316.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 26,148 shares in the company, valued at $5,925,398.28. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 82,234 shares of company stock valued at $19,076,767. Corporate insiders own 9.70% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Stock Down 1.8%

Amazon.com stock opened at $226.19 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $229.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $224.87. Amazon.com, Inc. has a twelve month low of $161.38 and a twelve month high of $258.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.37.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $180.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $177.53 billion. Amazon.com had a net margin of 11.06% and a return on equity of 23.62%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.43 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on AMZN. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Amazon.com from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $340.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $300.00 price target on Amazon.com and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifty-six have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.43.

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.