ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 112.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,480 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after buying an additional 5,556 shares during the quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $2,183,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Amazon.com during the fourth quarter worth $32,868,735,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 27,376.7% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 98,448,885 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $2,272,397,000 after purchasing an additional 98,090,585 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its stake in Amazon.com by 20,598.0% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 87,982,814 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $20,308,193,000 after buying an additional 87,557,736 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Amazon.com in the 1st quarter valued at about $11,674,091,000. Finally, Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its holdings in Amazon.com by 879.4% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 27,862,400 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $6,431,199,000 after buying an additional 25,017,588 shares during the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amazon.com News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Options data and several analyst/commentary pieces suggest traders expect a post-earnings move higher, and multiple firms remain bullish on AMZN heading into the July 30 report. Ahead of Amazon Earnings, Here’s What Barchart Data Says Comes Next for AMZN Stock
• Positive Sentiment: India eased e-commerce export rules, which is a win for Amazon’s international marketplace ambitions and could support long-term growth. India relaxes e-commerce investment rules for exports in win for Amazon
• Positive Sentiment: Several bullish research notes continue to frame AWS, custom silicon, and Amazon’s AI buildout as long-term growth drivers, with some investors arguing the capex surge should ultimately strengthen Amazon’s competitive moat. Amazon: Why The CapEx Surge Makes Me More Bullish, Not Less

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 27,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $7,562,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 471,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $129,624,275. This represents a 5.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 31,352 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $8,621,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,175,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $598,335,650. This represents a 1.42% 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. Insiders sold a total of 140,425 shares of company stock valued at $37,715,464 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 8.90% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $232.11 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $248.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $236.32. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.00 and a 1-year high of $278.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.76, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.46.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $1.15. The business had revenue of $181.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $177.28 billion. Amazon.com had a net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 19.92%. The business’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.59 EPS. Analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on AMZN shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 price objective (up from $280.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Phillip Securities raised Amazon.com from a “moderate buy” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $280.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price target (up from $245.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Moffett Nathanson increased their price objective on Amazon.com from $283.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $330.00 price objective on Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Fifty-seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $312.91.

About Amazon.com

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.