Prudential PLC Decreases Holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Prudential PLC trimmed its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 750,549 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after selling 36,537 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com makes up 0.8% of Prudential PLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $164,663,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rench Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Amazon.com by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. now owns 50,403 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $9,392,000 after acquiring an additional 3,703 shares during the period. Momentous Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Amazon.com during the fourth quarter valued at $749,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its holdings in Amazon.com by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 317,114 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $69,572,000 after purchasing an additional 39,696 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Amazon.com by 173.6% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,461,573 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $759,434,000 after buying an additional 2,196,353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blankinship & Foster LLC raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 216.4% in the third quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC now owns 6,930 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $1,291,000 after buying an additional 4,740 shares during the period. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AMZN. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Amazon.com from $260.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $255.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $287.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price target on Amazon.com from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and forty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $243.55.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Shelley Reynolds sold 8,833 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.47, for a total transaction of $1,965,077.51. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 119,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,647,456.60. This trade represents a 6.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 27,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.27, for a total transaction of $6,332,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 497,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,459,618.09. The trade was a 5.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 104,798 shares of company stock valued at $23,341,803. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Amazon.com Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ AMZN opened at $189.98 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 52 week low of $151.61 and a 52 week high of $242.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.35, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a fifty day moving average of $190.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $207.92.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 24.25%. The firm had revenue of $155.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $154.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current 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.