Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,220 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 873 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com accounts for approximately 1.3% of Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $2,681,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AMZN. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 44.3% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 2,641,401 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $492,172,000 after buying an additional 811,425 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 1.4% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Sassicaia Capital Advisers LLC bought a new position in Amazon.com in the 3rd quarter valued at $279,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Amazon.com by 0.3% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 356,539 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $66,434,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Management Co. grew its stake in Amazon.com by 27.6% in the third quarter. Meridian Management Co. now owns 33,460 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $6,235,000 after acquiring an additional 7,246 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Amazon.com from $245.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James raised their target price on Amazon.com from $260.00 to $275.00 in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays boosted their target price on Amazon.com from $235.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $280.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Phillip Securities lowered shares of Amazon.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $260.65.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $196.21 on Friday. 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 market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $218.90 and a 200-day moving average of $208.19. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 1 year low of $151.61 and a 1 year high of $242.52.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.34. Amazon.com had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 24.25%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Shelley Reynolds sold 8,833 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.47, for a total transaction of $1,965,077.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 119,780 shares in the company, valued at $26,647,456.60. This trade represents a 6.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 19,212 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.50, for a total transaction of $4,178,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,864,125. The trade was a 27.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 102,298 shares of company stock worth $22,871,828 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

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.