Amazon.com’s (AMZN) “Overweight” Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reiterated their overweight rating on shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $300.00 price target on the e-commerce giant’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Amazon.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $250.00 to $245.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 1st. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $262.87.

Amazon.com Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ AMZN opened at $231.03 on Thursday. Amazon.com has a 12-month low of $161.38 and a 12-month high of $242.52. The stock has a market cap of $2.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a 50-day moving average of $221.41 and a 200 day moving average of $208.44.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.37. Amazon.com had a net margin of 10.54% and a return on equity of 23.84%. The company had revenue of $167.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.26 EPS. Amazon.com’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Amazon.com will post 6.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,643,142 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $230.43, for a total value of $609,059,211.06. Following the sale, the insider owned 883,779,901 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,649,402,587.43. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 2,500 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.00, for a total transaction of $542,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 512,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,114,850. The trade was a 0.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,096,253 shares of company stock worth $5,673,745,409. Insiders own 9.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Amazon.com

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 6.6% in the second quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 1,026,778 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $225,234,000 after acquiring an additional 63,793 shares in the last quarter. MayTech Global Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 4.3% in the second quarter. MayTech Global Investments LLC now owns 304,787 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $67,861,000 after purchasing an additional 12,526 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 2.8% in the second quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 8,597,297 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $1,888,730,000 after purchasing an additional 231,751 shares during the period. 44 Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 14.9% in the second quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,143 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $1,786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053 shares during the period. Finally, Nikulski Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 3.9% in the second quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. now owns 73,426 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $16,109,000 after purchasing an additional 2,757 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

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.