Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Stock Price Up 1.5% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) rose 1.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $242.14 and last traded at $241.51. Approximately 40,716,495 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 15% from the average daily volume of 48,008,879 shares. The stock had previously closed at $238.00.

Trending Headlines about Amazon.com

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

• Positive Sentiment: Amazon continues to strengthen its AI and cloud position, with reports saying its custom chips are seeing strong demand in AWS and that its growing AI capabilities could help drive long-term upside. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon expanded its logistics moat by launching less-than-truckload freight service for all U.S. businesses, which could improve its supply-chain offering and deepen its role in e-commerce infrastructure. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon also signed a major patent license agreement with InterDigital covering Prime Video and devices, removing legal uncertainty and reinforcing its streaming and devices ecosystem. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and commentators remain constructive on Amazon’s long-term fundamentals, pointing to e-commerce efficiency, AWS AI dominance, and potential value in its Anthropic investment, but these are more long-term catalysts than immediate trading drivers. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are worried about Amazon’s heavy AI capital spending and new borrowing, which may pressure margins and free cash flow before the payback shows up. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Broader market pieces note that Amazon has lagged the S&P 500 recently and that its valuation has been hit by concerns over capex and softer near-term sentiment. Article Title

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMZN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Monday, June 1st. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Amazon.com from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $280.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Fifty-seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $312.78.

Amazon.com Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $253.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $233.62. The company has a market capitalization of $2.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its 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. Amazon.com had a net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 19.92%. The company had revenue of $181.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $177.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.59 earnings per share. Amazon.com’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amazon.com

In related news, SVP David Zapolsky sold 9,270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.53, for a total transaction of $2,489,273.10. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 15,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 195,774 shares of company stock valued at $51,614,434 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 8.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Amazon.com in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,868,735,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its stake in Amazon.com by 27,376.7% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 98,448,885 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $2,272,397,000 after purchasing an additional 98,090,585 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its stake in Amazon.com by 20,598.0% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 87,557,736 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Amazon.com in the first quarter valued at approximately $11,674,091,000. Finally, Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its stake in Amazon.com by 879.4% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 27,862,400 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $6,431,199,000 after purchasing an additional 25,017,588 shares in the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.