Short Interest in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Declines By 13.7%

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 70,760,000 shares, a drop of 13.7% from the January 15th total of 81,980,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 37,750,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $236.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Amazon.com from $225.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Amazon.com from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Loop Capital raised their price target on Amazon.com from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $285.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $260.74.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.00, for a total value of $735,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 524,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,159,070. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.06, for a total value of $246,237.22. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 24,912 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,958,982.72. The trade was a 4.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 51,848 shares of company stock worth $11,368,639. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rench Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $9,392,000 after purchasing an additional 3,703 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 16,392 shares during the period. Blankinship & Foster LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 4,740 shares during the period. Umpqua Bank lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 35,120 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $6,544,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. Finally, One Wealth Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the 4th quarter worth $4,270,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Price Performance

AMZN stock opened at $228.68 on Monday. Amazon.com has a 1 year low of $151.61 and a 1 year high of $242.52. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $228.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $202.44. The firm has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.35, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.15.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.34. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 25.49% and a net margin of 9.29%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amazon.com will post 6.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.