Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Increases Stake in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 182,813,905 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,087,933 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com accounts for about 4.6% of Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 1.74% of Amazon.com worth $40,107,544,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 823,360,597 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $180,637,081,000 after buying an additional 17,635,391 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 328,464,225 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $72,061,766,000 after buying an additional 1,725,664 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 204,930,426 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $44,837,256,000 after buying an additional 5,015,380 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Amazon.com in the fourth quarter valued at $27,266,582,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 67,092,427 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $14,719,407,000 after buying an additional 545,292 shares during the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on AMZN. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $235.00 price target (up from $225.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Amazon.com from $270.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and forty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Amazon.com presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $244.09.

Amazon.com Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ AMZN opened at $205.59 on Friday. Amazon.com, Inc. has a one year low of $151.61 and a one year high of $242.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.18, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.30. 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 has a 50-day moving average price of $189.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $208.50.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.21. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 9.29%. The firm had revenue of $155.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $154.96 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 5,501 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.44, for a total transaction of $1,256,648.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 505,318 shares in the company, valued at $115,434,843.92. The trade was a 1.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Keith Brian Alexander sold 1,000 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.68, for a total value of $210,680.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,151,366.20. This represents a 15.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 80,798 shares of company stock worth $17,696,733. 9.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.