Employees Retirement System of Texas Boosts Holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Employees Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 6.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,762,977 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 108,333 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com comprises about 3.1% of Employees Retirement System of Texas’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Amazon.com were worth $386,780,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. raised its stake in Amazon.com by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 12,565 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $2,763,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,399 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $1,843,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 0.4% in the second quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 12,157 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $2,667,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Union Savings Bank increased its position in Amazon.com by 0.4% during the second quarter. Union Savings Bank now owns 10,723 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $2,510,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bare Financial Services Inc increased its position in Amazon.com by 5.4% during the first quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 930 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $177,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amazon.com Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of AMZN stock opened at $231.78 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Amazon.com, Inc. has a one year low of $161.38 and a one year high of $258.60. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $229.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $224.52. The company has a market capitalization of $2.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.74, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $180.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $177.53 billion. Amazon.com had a net margin of 11.06% and a return on equity of 23.62%. Amazon.com’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.43 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amazon.com

In other news, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 17,768 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.90, for a total value of $3,853,879.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 6,273 shares in the company, valued at $1,360,613.70. The trade was a 73.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.61, for a total transaction of $280,316.57. Following the sale, the director owned 26,148 shares in the company, valued at $5,925,398.28. This represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 82,234 shares of company stock worth $19,076,767. Insiders own 9.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on AMZN. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $305.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $269.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $260.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Arete Research lifted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $248.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $295.43.

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.