ARS Investment Partners LLC Purchases 23,262 Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

ARS Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 12.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 205,565 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,262 shares during the period. Amazon.com makes up about 2.2% of ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $42,813,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AMZN. MilWealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 79.0% in the fourth quarter. MilWealth Group LLC now owns 179 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 900.0% during the fourth quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership now owns 200 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 95.6% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 221 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Amazon.com by 87.7% during the 4th quarter. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. now owns 229 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on AMZN. DA Davidson increased their target price on Amazon.com from $175.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Pivotal Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective (up from $300.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $275.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, HSBC lifted their price target on Amazon.com from $280.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Fifty-seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $312.78.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In other news, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 15,467 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.40, for a total transaction of $4,074,007.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 14,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,729,480.60. This represents a 52.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 9,270 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.53, for a total value of $2,489,273.10. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 41,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,060,750.70. The trade was a 18.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 195,774 shares of company stock valued at $51,614,434. 8.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Amazon.com Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ AMZN opened at $234.11 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $256.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $234.12. The company has a market cap of $2.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.00, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.18. Amazon.com, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.00 and a fifty-two week high of $278.56.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $1.15. The business had revenue of $181.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $177.28 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 12.22%.The business’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.59 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Amazon.com News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Prime Day has kicked off earlier than usual and is expected to generate record online spending, with estimates above $26 billion across retailers; that could lift Amazon’s retail revenue and merchant activity. Amazon Prime Day expected to drive record $26B in online spending
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon is leaning hard into AI commerce during Prime Day, including Alexa for Shopping and new agentic ads that can place purchases automatically, which could improve engagement and show off Amazon’s AI monetization strategy. Amazon ads can make purchases for you
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analyst-style commentaries remain bullish, citing AWS reacceleration, advertising growth, Prime subscriptions, and the possibility that Amazon’s AI chips could become an additional business line. Amazon: You Aren’t Bullish Enough
• Positive Sentiment: A new AWS partnership with ArcelorMittal and another AWS deal with PennyMac highlight continued enterprise adoption of Amazon’s cloud and AI tools. Amazon teams with ArcelorMittal to bring AI into steel plants
• Neutral Sentiment: Prime Day is also being viewed as a consumer spending litmus test, with more focus on basics and household goods than discretionary splurges, so results will be important for sentiment but not clearly a direct positive or negative. Amazon Prime Day to gauge US consumer strain
• Negative Sentiment: AMZN has been caught in a broader selloff in big tech as investors worry about heavy AI capital spending and uncertain near-term returns, which has weighed on the stock despite strong fundamentals. Alphabet sinks, Amazon slides amid AI capex anxiety
• Negative Sentiment: Amazon also faces fresh labor and regulatory overhangs, including an order to bargain with Teamsters at a California fulfillment center and renewed FTC-related concern. Amazon told to negotiate with Teamsters

Amazon.com 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.