Investors Purchase High Volume of Amazon.com Call Options (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 691,824 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 29% compared to the typical daily volume of 534,726 call options.

Amazon.com Trading Up 2.2 %

Amazon.com stock traded up $4.33 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $201.45. The company had a trading volume of 40,685,672 shares, compared to its average volume of 41,550,199. Amazon.com has a 1-year low of $142.81 and a 1-year high of $215.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $193.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $186.38. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.14.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.29. Amazon.com had a net margin of 8.04% and a return on equity of 22.41%. The business had revenue of $158.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $157.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Amazon.com will post 5.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In related news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,996,362 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.85, for a total value of $625,790,203.70. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 917,416,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $191,602,535,437.60. This trade represents a 0.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 2,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.00, for a total value of $427,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 62,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,171,900. This trade represents a 3.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,026,683 shares of company stock worth $1,252,148,795 in the last three months. Insiders own 10.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Amazon.com

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Amazon.com by 31.6% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 182,359 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $32,894,000 after purchasing an additional 43,759 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its position in Amazon.com by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 33,729 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $6,084,000 after acquiring an additional 1,081 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Amazon.com by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 185,064 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $33,382,000 after acquiring an additional 22,071 shares during the period. KCM Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Amazon.com by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 333,463 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $60,150,000 after purchasing an additional 5,571 shares during the period. Finally, Susquehanna International Group Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the 1st quarter valued at $1,251,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMZN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wedbush increased their price objective on Amazon.com from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research began coverage on Amazon.com in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $260.00 target price on the stock. Moffett Nathanson upped their price target on Amazon.com from $235.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Amazon.com from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Amazon.com from $245.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.20.

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.