BNP Paribas Upgrades Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) to “Hold”

BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) to a hold rating in a report released on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $285.00 to $255.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Maxim Group lifted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $260.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Amazon.com from $236.00 to $287.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Amazon.com from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Citizens Jmp reduced their target price on Amazon.com from $285.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and forty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $243.55.

Amazon.com Trading Down 0.1 %

Amazon.com stock opened at $189.98 on Wednesday. Amazon.com has a 12-month low of $151.61 and a 12-month high of $242.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 34.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $190.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $207.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 9.29%. The company had revenue of $155.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $154.96 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Amazon.com will post 6.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.99, for a total value of $469,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 509,474 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,776,017.26. This trade represents a 0.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 19,212 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.50, for a total value of $4,178,610.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,864,125. This trade represents a 27.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 104,798 shares of company stock valued at $23,341,803. 10.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AMZN. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the 4th quarter worth about $27,266,582,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Amazon.com by 21,420.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 30,245,061 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $5,754,425,000 after purchasing an additional 30,104,520 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 36.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 65,709,496 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $14,416,078,000 after purchasing an additional 17,681,004 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Amazon.com by 2.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 17,635,391 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 17,054.5% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 12,088,589 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $2,652,116,000 after purchasing an additional 12,018,120 shares during the period. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.