Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 75,730,000 shares, an increase of 7.3% from the March 31st total of 70,550,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 42,200,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on AMZN shares. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Amazon.com from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays upped their price target on Amazon.com from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $217.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $210.18.

Amazon.com Trading Up 2.3 %

AMZN stock opened at $179.00 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.72, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 0.84. Amazon.com has a 1-year low of $101.15 and a 1-year high of $189.77. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $159.78.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.15. Amazon.com had a net margin of 5.29% and a return on equity of 16.61%. The company had revenue of $143.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $142.65 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.31 earnings per share. Amazon.com’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Amazon.com will post 4.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In other Amazon.com news, CEO Adam Selipsky sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.38, for a total value of $90,690.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 130,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,688,228. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Adam Selipsky sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.38, for a total transaction of $90,690.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 130,600 shares in the company, valued at $23,688,228. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 5,998,849 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.16, for a total transaction of $1,020,764,145.84. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 982,252,968 shares in the company, valued at approximately $167,140,165,034.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,213,510 shares of company stock worth $5,505,811,286. Company insiders own 10.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amazon.com

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 0.4% during the first quarter. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 31,010 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $5,594,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 2.6% during the first quarter. Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV now owns 6,155 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $1,110,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 6.2% during the first quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 22,037 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $3,975,000 after buying an additional 1,287 shares during the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 39,590 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $7,145,000 after acquiring an additional 7,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KFA Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 15,907 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $2,869,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares during the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.