Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Boosts Stake in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 6.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 196,741 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after buying an additional 11,942 shares during the period. Amazon.com accounts for 0.4% of Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $20,321,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. St. James Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 97.7% during the fourth quarter. St. James Investment Advisors LLC now owns 344 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Planning LLC grew its stake in Amazon.com by 1,900.0% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Planning LLC now owns 320 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the period. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Amazon.com in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Swaine & Leidel Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the 1st quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. 57.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AMZN shares. Redburn Partners increased their target price on Amazon.com from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 11th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $150.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $145.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $101.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and forty-eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $160.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.93, for a total transaction of $523,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 564,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $73,883,929.93. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Amazon.com news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.93, for a total value of $523,720.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 564,301 shares in the company, valued at $73,883,929.93. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $7,050,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 510,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,952,441. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,361,829 shares of company stock worth $48,444,937 in the last three months. 12.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Amazon.com Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $138.12 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 108.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.24. Amazon.com, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $81.43 and a fifty-two week high of $143.63. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $133.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $116.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The e-commerce giant reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $134.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.54 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 9.14% and a net margin of 2.43%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 2.23 EPS for the current year.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc engages in the retail sale of consumer products and subscriptions through online and physical stores in North America and internationally. It operates through three segments: North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). The company's products offered through its stores include merchandise and content purchased for resale; and products offered by third-party sellers.