Baird Financial Group Inc. Raises Stock Position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,582,158 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 118,518 shares during the period. Amazon.com makes up 1.1% of Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $566,500,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Accordant Advisory Group Inc increased its position in shares of Amazon.com by 400.0% during the fourth quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 125 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Perritt Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Amazon.com by 72.7% during the fourth quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 190 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quattro Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Amazon.com by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Quattro Financial Advisors LLC now owns 234 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 19,872 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.30, for a total value of $4,000,233.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,148,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $432,532,102.20. This represents a 0.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.99, for a total transaction of $469,975.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 509,474 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,776,017.26. The trade was a 0.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 118,749 shares of company stock worth $24,197,235. Corporate insiders own 9.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $248.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $265.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Phillip Securities cut shares of Amazon.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $270.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and forty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amazon.com currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $244.09.

Amazon.com Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of Amazon.com stock opened at $200.99 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $190.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $208.80. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 12-month low of $151.61 and a 12-month high of $242.52. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.35, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.30.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.21. Amazon.com had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 24.25%. The business had revenue of $155.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $154.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.