Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Trading 2.9% Higher – Still a Buy?

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) shot up 2.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $245.73 and last traded at $244.39. Approximately 73,603,799 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 53% from the average daily volume of 48,053,941 shares. The stock had previously closed at $237.50.

Amazon.com News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts are increasingly bullish on Amazon’s AI and cloud positioning, with multiple firms reiterating Buy ratings and highlighting AWS as a long-term growth driver. Brian Pitz Reiterates Amazon as Top Pick, Maintains Buy Rating and $355 Price Target on Strengthening AI and Cloud Positioning
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon is reportedly exploring sales of its Trainium AI chips to external data center customers, which could open a new revenue stream and deepen its challenge to Nvidia. Amazon exploring selling its custom AI chips to data center customers
• Positive Sentiment: Prime Day is approaching, and Bank of America expects the event to drive strong sales while boosting adoption of Amazon’s AI shopping tools, including Alexa for Shopping. Bank of America Lays Out Expectations Ahead of Amazon Stock’s Prime Day
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon is investing more than €10 billion to expand its European fulfillment network, signaling continued support for e-commerce capacity and logistics efficiency. Amazon Commits €10 Billion for European fulfillment network
• Neutral Sentiment: Amazon is facing EU scrutiny over whether AWS should be classified as a “gatekeeper” under the Digital Markets Act, which could increase regulatory oversight for the cloud unit. Microsoft and Amazon Face EU Digital Markets Act Scrutiny Over Cloud Dominance
• Neutral Sentiment: Amazon MGM Studios dropped the nearly finished OpenAI film “Artificial” after the companies’ broader partnership shift, a move with limited direct financial impact but notable signaling value. Luca Guadagnino’s Sam Altman, OpenAI Film ‘Artificial’ Dropped by Amazon MGM Studios
• Negative Sentiment: Amazon is also dealing with employee and public scrutiny over AI data center expansion and labor practices, which could add regulatory and reputational pressure. Amazon investigating engineers who criticized AI data center expansion

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMZN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. 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 research note on Monday, May 4th. Pivotal Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $320.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Fifty-seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $312.78.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $256.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $234.12. 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 company has a market cap of $2.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.44.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $177.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.59 EPS. Amazon.com’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 1,000 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.19, for a total value of $266,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 485,527 shares in the company, valued at approximately $129,242,432.13. The trade was a 0.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.42, for a total value of $5,268,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,205,766 shares in the company, valued at approximately $581,042,879.72. The trade was a 0.90% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 195,774 shares of company stock valued at $51,614,434. 8.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMZN. Red Crane Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Amazon.com by 2.3% in the first quarter. Red Crane Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,663 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Amazon.com by 0.7% in the first quarter. Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,509 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Sfam LLC grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 3.4% during the first quarter. Sfam LLC now owns 1,224 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 3.4% during the first quarter. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. now owns 1,206 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $251,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust increased its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 1.1% during the first quarter. CoreFirst Bank & Trust now owns 3,620 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $754,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

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.