Van Diest Capital LLC Makes New $1.90 Million Investment in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Van Diest Capital LLC purchased a new position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 8,223 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock, valued at approximately $1,898,000. Amazon.com accounts for 2.8% of Van Diest Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AMZN. Lifelong Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Amazon.com by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Lifelong Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,740 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $402,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Financial Connections Group Inc. raised its stake in Amazon.com by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 1,633 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Marquette Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Amazon.com by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 886 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Western Financial Corp CA lifted its holdings in Amazon.com by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 3,076 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $710,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Navalign LLC boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Navalign LLC now owns 13,349 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $3,081,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $244.39 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $256.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $234.05. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.00 and a 52 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.23, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.44.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $1.15. Amazon.com had a net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 19.92%. The firm had revenue of $181.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $177.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.59 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.71 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: Amazon is exploring selling Trainium AI chips to external data-center customers, which could open a new revenue stream and strengthen its position in AI infrastructure. Amazon CEO Jassy says company could sell AI chips, raising stakes for Nvidia, AMD
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon’s planned $10 billion Missouri data center buildout underscores rising AI infrastructure demand and suggests stronger AWS growth ahead. Should Amazon’s US$10 Billion Missouri AI Bet and Trainium Chip Sales Shift AMZN’s Cloud Narrative?
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America reiterated a Buy rating and a $310 price target, framing Alexa+ and Prime Day as potential catalysts for adoption and sales growth. Amazon’s Alexa AI Could Be The Real Prime Day Winner: Analyst
• Positive Sentiment: Prime Day is expected to generate nearly $22 billion in gross merchandise value, offering a near-term retail lift and a showcase for Amazon’s AI shopping tools. Amazon Prime Day expected to generate nearly $22B in sales
• Positive Sentiment: Alexa+ is expanding internationally, including full rollout in Canada and availability in Brazil, which supports Amazon’s consumer AI monetization story. Here’s Why Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) is a Top Growth Stock to Buy According to Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon’s AWS unit won new business as Zelis selected AWS to automate healthcare pricing and payments, showing continued enterprise cloud momentum. Zelis Picks AWS to Automate Healthcare Pricing and Payments

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Amazon.com from a “moderate buy” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $280.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Amazon.com from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Amazon.com from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Fifty-seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amazon.com currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $312.78.

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In other news, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 15,467 shares of the firm’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 value of $4,074,007.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,729,480.60. This trade represents a 52.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 20,000 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.42, for a total value of $5,268,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,205,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $581,042,879.72. This trade represents a 0.90% decrease in their position. 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 195,774 shares of company stock valued at $51,614,434 over the last ninety days. 8.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.