Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Shares Up 1.3% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) were up 1.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Arete Research raised their price target on the stock from $264.00 to $283.00. Arete Research currently has a buy rating on the stock. Amazon.com traded as high as $235.72 and last traded at $234.34. Approximately 31,606,587 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 27% from the average daily volume of 43,007,961 shares. The stock had previously closed at $231.31.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on AMZN. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $305.00 price objective (up previously from $290.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Amazon.com from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Amazon.com from $269.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifty-four have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $295.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 2,500 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.22, for a total value of $583,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 505,934 shares in the company, valued at approximately $117,993,927.48. This trade represents a 0.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 17,768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.90, for a total transaction of $3,853,879.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 6,273 shares in the company, valued at $1,360,613.70. The trade was a 73.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 79,734 shares of company stock valued at $18,534,017. 9.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Amazon.com News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support is strengthening — TD Cowen raised its price target to $315 and Scotiabank lifted its target to $300, adding institutional momentum that can drive buying interest. TD Cowen raises PT
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon is expanding physical retail and fulfillment with a massive new Orland Park megastore that blends shopping and fulfillment — a tangible example of omnichannel scale that supports faster delivery and higher-margin services. Amazon plans largest retail store
• Positive Sentiment: AI and healthcare initiatives (Health AI for One Medical, Alexa/agentic features, AWS AI positioning) bolster the long-term growth narrative and AWS monetization prospects. Bernstein and others highlight Amazon as a leading AI bull case. Amazon One Medical AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/industry headlines are mixed: Bezos’ Blue Origin TeraWave satellite push and SpaceX IPO chatter raise industry focus on space infrastructure (some overlap with Amazon’s Kuiper ambitions), but impact on AMZN is indirect. Blue Origin TeraWave
• Neutral Sentiment: Market chatter offers differing trader strategies ahead of February earnings (buy-ahead vs. wait-for-confirmation), increasing short-term volatility but not changing the fundamental story. 2 ways to trade Amazon ahead of earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Technical and risk warnings: some analysts and chartists flag a risky pattern and downside risk ahead of earnings, which can trigger selling if results disappoint. Alarming chart pattern
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term margin pressure concerns — CEO comments about tariffs “creeping” into prices and a Raymond James note flagging agentic commerce headwinds could weigh on margins or sentiment. Tariffs creeping into prices
• Negative Sentiment: Some fund activity and cautious analyst trims (e.g., Rothschild/Redburn cut to neutral) add to a mixed tape and may cap near-term upside. Rothschild trims PT

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 113.2% during the third quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 113 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Amazon.com in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Carderock Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Amazon.com during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 81.9% in the 2nd quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 211 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Ryan Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the 2nd quarter worth $48,000. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amazon.com Trading Up 1.3%

The firm has a market cap of $2.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $231.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $228.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.38. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 23.62% and a net margin of 11.06%.The firm had revenue of $180.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $177.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.