Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Trading Up 1.6% Following Analyst Upgrade

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)’s stock price was up 1.6% during trading on Wednesday after Phillip Securities upgraded the stock to a buy rating. Phillip Securities now has a $280.00 price target on the stock. Amazon.com traded as high as $270.72 and last traded at $270.13. Approximately 37,556,778 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 24% from the average daily volume of 49,500,426 shares. The stock had previously closed at $265.82.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on AMZN. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Amazon.com from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Daiwa Securities Group reduced their target price on Amazon.com from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Amazon.com from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on Amazon.com from $175.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Fifty-seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $312.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP David Zapolsky sold 10,649 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.43, for a total value of $2,187,624.07. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 41,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,461,661.70. This represents a 20.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 27,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 471,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $129,624,275. The trade was a 5.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 190,593 shares of company stock worth $46,081,241 over the last three months. 8.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

More Amazon.com News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Amazon launched “Alexa for Shopping”, a new AI-powered shopping assistant that combines Alexa and Rufus functionality to help customers search, compare products, track prices, and complete shopping tasks. The move strengthens Amazon’s AI strategy and could improve conversion on its retail platforms. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon Business introduced a small-business-focused credit card with Mastercard and U.S. Bank, which could deepen loyalty, encourage more merchant spending, and add another financial-services touchpoint inside the Amazon ecosystem. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon is also pushing faster fulfillment with 30-minute deliveries in more U.S. cities through Amazon Now, reinforcing its competitiveness in quick commerce and potentially increasing Prime utility and order frequency. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several analysts reiterated bullish views on AMZN, including TD Cowen and Phillip Securities, which may be helping sentiment, but these ratings are more of a validation of the existing bullish thesis than a fresh catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: There is some offsetting concern that Amazon’s rapid AI and logistics expansion is drawing more scrutiny, including headlines about AI-related power usage and a French court rejecting Amazon’s challenge over book delivery fees. These are unlikely to outweigh the positive growth catalysts, but they add regulatory and cost pressure. Article Title

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 113.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 113 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. MilWealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 79.0% during the 4th 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 period. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 900.0% during the 4th quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership now owns 200 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Stock Up 1.6%

The company has a market cap of $2.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $231.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $229.78.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.59 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.72 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.