HS Management Partners LLC Decreases Stock Position in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

HS Management Partners LLC lowered its stake in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 27.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 198,040 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after selling 76,530 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com makes up approximately 5.7% of HS Management Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. HS Management Partners LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $43,484,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Carderock Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the second quarter worth $27,000. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Amazon.com by 81.9% during the 2nd quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 211 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Ryan Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Amazon.com during the 2nd quarter worth $48,000. Cooksen Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Amazon.com by 23.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cooksen Wealth LLC now owns 247 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in Amazon.com by 62.3% in the third quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 250 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AMZN shares. Zacks Research cut Amazon.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 1st. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Monday, December 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $300.00 to $304.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Amazon.com presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $295.42.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.03, for a total transaction of $5,500,660.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 493,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $123,391,555.21. This represents a 4.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 19,872 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.94, for a total value of $4,311,031.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,208,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $479,070,771.40. This represents a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 79,734 shares of company stock worth $18,534,017 over the last ninety days. 9.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Amazon.com News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Amazon.com this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analyst upgrades and bullish commentary lift sentiment — TD Cowen raised its price target (reportedly to $315) and Scotiabank raised its target to $300, while coverage noting substantial upside from consensus targets has pushed expectations higher. Analyst Remains Bullish on Amazon
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI and other strategists highlight accelerating revenue growth from AWS and advertising/retail expansions — a reminder of durable growth drivers that support higher long-term valuations. Expert eyes ‘accelerating’ revenue growth for Amazon
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon is investing in physical retail at scale — plans for its largest-ever “mega” store outside Chicago combine retail and fulfillment, signaling a strategic push to capture grocery and big‑box market share. Amazon Bets Big On Brick-And-Mortar
• Neutral Sentiment: Reminder: Amazon will webcast Q4 2025 results and host its earnings call on Feb. 5 — this will be the immediate fundamental catalyst for guidance and near-term stock direction. Amazon.com to Webcast Fourth-Quarter Results
• Neutral Sentiment: Amazon experiments with new offerings and partnerships (including crypto/NFT retail tie‑ins) that are strategically interesting but unlikely to move near‑term earnings materially. HV-MTL, Amazon & Otherside Join To Bring NFTs To The Retail Audience
• Negative Sentiment: Major layoffs weigh on sentiment — multiple outlets report Amazon will cut ~14,000 additional corporate jobs next week (part of a ~30,000 corporate reduction). That reduces costs but also signals caution and could pressure near‑term revenue/growth expectations and morale. Exclusive: Amazon plans thousands more corporate job cuts
• Negative Sentiment: Some sell‑side notes and bearish commentary (including pessimistic forecasts from boutique research houses) highlight valuation and near‑term technical risks, keeping volatility possible into earnings. Rothschild & Co Redburn Issues Pessimistic Forecast

Amazon.com Stock Performance

Shares of AMZN opened at $239.16 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $231.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $229.00. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 12 month low of $161.38 and a 12 month high of $258.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.37.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.38. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 23.62% and a net margin of 11.06%.The business had revenue of $180.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $177.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 EPS for the current year.

Amazon.com Company Profile

Amazon.com, Inc is a diversified technology and retail company best known for its e-commerce marketplace and broad portfolio of consumer and enterprise services. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company launched as an online bookseller and expanded into a global retail platform that sells products directly to consumers and provides a marketplace for third-party sellers. Over time Amazon has grown beyond retail into areas including cloud computing, digital media, devices and logistics.

Key businesses and offerings include Amazon’s online marketplace and fulfillment services, the Amazon Prime membership program (which bundles expedited shipping with streaming and other benefits), Amazon Web Services (AWS) which supplies on-demand cloud computing and storage to businesses and public-sector customers, and a range of content and advertising services such as Prime Video and Amazon Advertising.