Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Shares Down 3.5% on Analyst Downgrade

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)'s share price traded down 3.5% on Monday after Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on the stock from $275.00 to $250.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Amazon.com traded as low as $184.40 and last traded at $185.94. 20,174,205 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 49% from the average session volume of 39,765,654 shares. The stock had previously closed at $192.72.

AMZN has been the subject of several other research reports. Mizuho increased their target price on Amazon.com from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $245.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Amazon.com from $230.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research increased their target price on Amazon.com from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $260.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amazon.com news, CFO Brian T. Olsavsky sold 14,620 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.14, for a total value of $3,262,306.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 49,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,933,860. The trade was a 22.98 % 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 the SEC website. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 5,501 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.44, for a total value of $1,256,648.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 505,318 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $115,434,843.92. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 102,298 shares of company stock valued at $22,871,828 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMZN. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its stake in Amazon.com by 44.3% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,641,401 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $492,172,000 after purchasing an additional 811,425 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 1.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 13,335,826 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $2,484,864,000 after buying an additional 183,610 shares during the last quarter. Sassicaia Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the 3rd quarter valued at $279,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of Amazon.com by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 356,539 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $66,434,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares during the period. Finally, Meridian Management Co. raised its stake in Amazon.com by 27.6% in the 3rd quarter. Meridian Management Co. now owns 33,460 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $6,235,000 after acquiring an additional 7,246 shares during the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amazon.com Trading Down 7.2 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $214.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $209.22. The company has a market cap of $1.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.89, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.19.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.34. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 9.29%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 EPS for the current fiscal 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.