Welch & Forbes LLC Increases Holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Welch & Forbes LLC boosted its stake in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 567,966 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after buying an additional 4,800 shares during the period. Amazon.com accounts for 1.5% of Welch & Forbes LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $118,290,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,036,091 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $885,478,000 after purchasing an additional 397,007 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Amazon.com by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 25,045 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $5,495,000 after purchasing an additional 986 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its stake in Amazon.com by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 2,016,869 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $442,481,000 after purchasing an additional 54,987 shares during the period. Highview Capital Management LLC DE boosted its holdings in Amazon.com by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 28,975 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $6,357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Amazon.com in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,153,000. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amazon.com

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total value of $239,770.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 484,527 shares in the company, valued at approximately $116,175,038.79. This trade represents a 0.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 15,467 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.40, for a total value of $4,074,007.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 14,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,729,480.60. This trade represents a 52.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 140,425 shares of company stock valued at $37,715,464. Insiders own 8.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. New Street Research raised their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $280.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Moffett Nathanson upped their price objective on Amazon.com from $283.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on Amazon.com from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Fifty-seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $312.91.

Amazon.com Price Performance

Shares of AMZN opened at $232.11 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.50 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.76, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.46. Amazon.com, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.00 and a fifty-two week high of $278.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $248.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $236.32.

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

Amazon.com News Roundup

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

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.