Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Position Boosted by Essex Savings Bank

Essex Savings Bank boosted its stake in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) by 8.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,666 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after acquiring an additional 2,603 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com comprises 1.5% of Essex Savings Bank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Essex Savings Bank's holdings in Amazon.com were worth $6,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC now owns 43,124 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $8,616,000 after buying an additional 898 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 177,812 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $34,377,000 after purchasing an additional 6,520 shares during the period. Warther Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 284.5% in the 2nd quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 44,020 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $8,507,000 after purchasing an additional 32,570 shares in the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 2.2% in the second quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 484,659 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $93,660,000 after purchasing an additional 10,606 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1.4% in the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 96,056 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $18,563,000 after purchasing an additional 1,290 shares during the period. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on AMZN shares. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $210.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Amazon.com from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Amazon.com from $235.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $243.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amazon.com news, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 4,351 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 88,203 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,273,459.55. This trade represents a 4.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 2,190 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.00, for a total transaction of $427,050.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 62,420 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,171,900. This trade represents a 3.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,034,534 shares of company stock valued at $1,253,883,872 over the last quarter. Insiders own 10.80% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMZN traded up $1.63 during trading on Friday, reaching $224.92. The stock had a trading volume of 87,060,734 shares, compared to its average volume of 41,415,395. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $2.37 trillion, a PE ratio of 48.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.16. Amazon.com, Inc. has a one year low of $144.05 and a one year high of $233.00. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $205.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $191.30.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.29. Amazon.com had a net margin of 8.04% and a return on equity of 22.41%. The company had revenue of $158.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $157.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 5.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amazon.com 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.