Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Cuts Holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lessened its stake in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 4.7% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,450,329 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after selling 363,649 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com makes up approximately 1.6% of Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $1,417,625,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,266,582,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Amazon.com by 21,420.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 30,245,061 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $5,754,425,000 after purchasing an additional 30,104,520 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Amazon.com by 36.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 65,709,496 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $14,416,078,000 after purchasing an additional 17,681,004 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Amazon.com by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 823,360,597 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $180,637,081,000 after purchasing an additional 17,635,391 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its position in Amazon.com by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 57,268,523 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $12,564,961,000 after purchasing an additional 12,000,745 shares in the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In other news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 4,273,237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.81, for a total value of $960,666,409.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 897,722,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,816,902,603.28. This trade represents a 0.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 25,096,253 shares of company stock worth $5,673,745,409. 9.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AMZN shares. Moffett Nathanson increased their price target on Amazon.com from $250.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $280.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $280.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $230.00 to $266.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $262.87.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

NASDAQ AMZN opened at $231.03 on Friday. Amazon.com, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $161.38 and a fifty-two week high of $242.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $221.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $208.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.31.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.37. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 23.84% and a net margin of 10.54%. The business had revenue of $167.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current 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.