Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN): The Numbers You Have To See

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) investors should pay attention to a decrease in support from the world’s most elite money managers lately.

To the average investor, there are many gauges investors can use to analyze Mr. Market. A duo of the best are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best fund managers can outclass the market by a very impressive amount (see just how much).

Equally as beneficial, positive insider trading sentiment is another way to parse down the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of motivations for a bullish insider to downsize shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several academic studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if “monkeys” understand what to do (learn more here).

Now, it’s important to take a look at the key action regarding Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).

What does the smart money think about Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)?

Heading into 2013, a total of 58 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of -6% from one quarter earlier. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes substantially.

When looking at the hedgies we track, Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management had the most valuable position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), worth close to $613.4 million, accounting for 1.7% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Lansdowne Partners, managed by Paul Ruddocká and Steve Heinz, which held a $482.7 million position; the fund has 8% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining hedge funds with similar optimism include Chase Coleman and Feroz Dewan’s Tiger Global Management LLC, John Griffin’s Blue Ridge Capital and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

Since Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has faced a declination in interest from the smart money, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of hedgies that decided to sell off their entire stakes last quarter. At the top of the heap, James Crichton and Adam Weiss’s Scout Capital Management said goodbye to the largest position of the 450+ funds we key on, comprising about $89 million in stock.. George Soros’s fund, Soros Fund Management, also said goodbye to its stock, about $66.1 million worth. These bearish behaviors are important to note, as total hedge fund interest fell by 4 funds last quarter.

What do corporate executives and insiders think about Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is best served when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time period, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 13 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s go over hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). These stocks are PC Connection, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCCC), Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT), Mercadolibre Inc (NASDAQ:MELI), Liberty Interactive (Interactive group) (NASDAQ:LINTA), and eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY). All of these stocks are in the catalog & mail order houses industry and their market caps resemble AMZN’s market cap.

With the returns shown by our strategies, retail investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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