Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Stock Price Down 2.2% After Insider Selling

Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) were down 2.2% during trading on Thursday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $259.52 and last traded at $259.92. 28,021,946 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 43% from the average session volume of 49,237,105 shares. The stock had previously closed at $265.84.

Specifically, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 3,741 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.76, for a total value of $982,985.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 467,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,745,180.88. This trade represents a 0.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AMZN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $365.00 price target (up from $330.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group set a $318.00 target price on Amazon.com and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $390.00 price target (up from $280.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifty-six have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $322.39.

Key Headlines Impacting Amazon.com

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

• Positive Sentiment: AWS and AI growth remain key supports: AWS reportedly grew 37% year over year to $42.2 billion, while its AI business surpassed a $25 billion annualized revenue run rate. A reported $496 billion AWS backlog reinforces expectations for sustained cloud demand. Amazon’s AWS backlog just hit $496 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Robotics and infrastructure investments: Amazon selected Austin, Texas, for a multibillion-dollar robotics facility expected to create 300–500 jobs. The company is also expanding data-center and power infrastructure to support AWS growth. Amazon is bringing a multibillion-dollar robotics plant to Texas
• Positive Sentiment: Positive analyst sentiment: Rosenblatt Securities initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $335 price target, while the broader analyst consensus remains bullish. David Tepper also added AMZN shares during the second quarter. Rosenblatt initiates Amazon coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Prime Air expansion: Amazon plans to extend drone delivery to nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns by year-end. The move could improve delivery speed and efficiency, but regulatory, privacy, noise and reliability concerns may limit its financial impact. Amazon to expand drone service to nearly 500 cities
• Negative Sentiment: Prime Video spending raises return concerns: Amazon announced a roughly $2 billion investment push for Prime Video content. Investors may be questioning whether the spending will generate sufficient subscriber growth, engagement or advertising returns. Amazon stock drops despite $2 billion Prime Video investment
• Negative Sentiment: Higher costs and competitive pressure: Amazon’s aggressive AI, data-center, robotics and media investments could weigh on free cash flow and returns if demand or monetization falls short. UPS is also phasing out most last-mile delivery services for Amazon, potentially creating logistics-transition costs. UPS is walking away from Amazon
• Negative Sentiment: Investor selling adds a sentiment headwind: Bill Ackman reportedly sold 25% of his Amazon stake, redirecting capital toward Microsoft and Meta. CEO Douglas Herrington also sold shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, though the transaction represented less than 1% of his holdings.

Amazon.com Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.91, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The business has a fifty day moving average of $249.09 and a 200-day moving average of $239.06.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $5.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $3.93. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 18.00% and a net margin of 17.44%.The company had revenue of $200.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 19.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Amazon.com by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 73,085 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $15,221,000 after acquiring an additional 5,125 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its position in Amazon.com by 1.7% during the first quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 303,862 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $63,285,000 after acquiring an additional 5,104 shares in the last quarter. Narwhal Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 216,606 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $49,997,000 after purchasing an additional 4,854 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Amazon.com by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 24,653,228 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $5,690,463,000 after buying an additional 4,275,942 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Weaver Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Amazon.com by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 39,264 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $9,063,000 after purchasing an additional 4,713 shares during the period. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.