New York State Teachers Retirement System Reduces Stock Holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 3.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,935,612 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after selling 297,983 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com makes up 3.5% of New York State Teachers Retirement System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $1,509,830,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMZN. Amalgamated Bank grew its position in shares of Amazon.com by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 2,057,992 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $391,554,000 after acquiring an additional 49,479 shares during the period. Verity Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Amazon.com by 73.4% in the first quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,468 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $3,133,000 after buying an additional 6,972 shares during the period. Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Amazon.com by 0.5% in the first quarter. Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 23,403 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $4,453,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. Waterfront Wealth Inc. raised its stake in Amazon.com by 4.3% in the first quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 16,208 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $3,084,000 after buying an additional 674 shares during the period. Finally, Strid Group LLC raised its stake in Amazon.com by 14.0% in the first quarter. Strid Group LLC now owns 759 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $144,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

Shares of Amazon.com stock opened at $228.29 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $214.60 and a 200-day moving average of $208.81. The company has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.33. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 1-year low of $151.61 and a 1-year high of $242.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.21. Amazon.com had a net margin of 10.14% and a return on equity of 24.14%. The firm had revenue of $155.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $154.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In other news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 4,273,237 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.81, for a total transaction of $960,666,409.97. Following the transaction, the insider owned 897,722,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $201,816,902,603.28. The trade was a 0.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders sold 20,947,939 shares of company stock valued at $4,720,588,785. 9.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on AMZN shares. BNP Paribas upgraded Amazon.com from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $248.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $280.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $195.00 target price (down previously from $275.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-five have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $254.33.

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.