Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Position Cut by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC lessened its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 319,712 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after selling 3,591 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com comprises 4.1% of Empirical Finance LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Empirical Finance LLC's holdings in Amazon.com were worth $70,142,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rench Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in 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 worth $9,392,000 after acquiring an additional 3,703 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Amazon.com by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 184,594 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $34,395,000 after acquiring an additional 16,392 shares during the period. Blankinship & Foster LLC lifted its position in Amazon.com by 216.4% during the 3rd quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC now owns 6,930 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $1,291,000 after acquiring an additional 4,740 shares during the period. Umpqua Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 35,120 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $6,544,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Finally, One Wealth Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,270,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research raised their price target on Amazon.com from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays raised their price target on Amazon.com from $235.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Amazon.com from $246.00 to $306.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $236.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Maxim Group lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $260.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $260.65.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

Shares of AMZN opened at $208.36 on Thursday. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 12-month low of $151.61 and a 12-month high of $242.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The business's fifty day moving average price is $225.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $206.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.15.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.34. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 9.29%. Equities research analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 27,500 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were 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 directly owns 497,067 shares of the company's stock, valued at $114,459,618.09. This trade represents a 5.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 4,351 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.85, for a total value of $1,000,077.35. Following the sale, the director now owns 88,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,273,459.55. This trade represents a 4.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 106,649 shares of company stock worth $23,871,905. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.

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