Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Has $86.32 Million Stock Position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 63.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 463,255 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after selling 789,877 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com comprises about 1.3% of Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $86,318,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMZN. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 69,686,374 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $13,466,933,000 after buying an additional 1,042,177 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Amazon.com by 0.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 67,745,972 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $13,091,909,000 after acquiring an additional 289,532 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Amazon.com by 3.4% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 40,973,804 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $7,917,906,000 after acquiring an additional 1,329,150 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 20,897.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 39,135,449 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $72,921,080,000 after acquiring an additional 38,949,065 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 1.5% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 31,883,977 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $6,161,579,000 after purchasing an additional 464,938 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

AMZN opened at $224.92 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.37 trillion, a PE ratio of 48.16, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Amazon.com, Inc. has a twelve month low of $144.05 and a twelve month high of $233.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $205.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $191.38.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.29. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 22.41% and a net margin of 8.04%. The company had revenue of $158.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 5,502 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.81, for a total transaction of $1,132,366.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 518,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,797,072.91. The trade was a 1.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 2,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.00, for a total transaction of $427,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 62,420 shares in the company, valued at $12,171,900. The trade was a 3.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,034,534 shares of company stock valued at $1,253,883,872 over the last 90 days. 10.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $197.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Wedbush lifted their price target on Amazon.com from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Maxim Group boosted their price target on Amazon.com from $251.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Amazon.com from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.00.

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.