Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Position in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 20.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 89,126 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,975 shares during the period. Amazon.com comprises 1.2% of Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $20,572,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Amazon.com by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 832,274,556 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $158,348,557,000 after acquiring an additional 8,913,959 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 381,681,441 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $83,805,794,000 after purchasing an additional 7,584,156 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 216,717,657 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $47,332,625,000 after purchasing an additional 3,721,658 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Amazon.com during the second quarter worth $27,438,011,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Amazon.com by 0.3% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 97,379,134 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $18,527,354,000 after buying an additional 302,858 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In other Amazon.com news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 27,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $7,562,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 471,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $129,624,275. This trade represents a 5.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 17,751 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.22, for a total value of $3,642,860.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,930,094.10. This represents a 65.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 185,809 shares of company stock valued at $45,132,239. Company insiders own 8.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 target price (up from $280.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Monday, May 4th. Daiwa Securities Group lowered their price target on Amazon.com from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Amazon.com from $298.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on Amazon.com from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Fifty-seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $312.67.

More Amazon.com News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Arete Research raised its price target on Amazon and reiterated a Buy rating, signaling continued upside expectations from current levels.
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon was highlighted as IBD’s Stock of the Day and a “Franchise Pick,” with investors focused on its approach toward the $3 trillion market-cap milestone.
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage around AWS emphasized strong AI demand, custom chip adoption, and Amazon’s growing role in the cloud AI boom, which may support revenue growth and sentiment.
• Positive Sentiment: News that Delta Air Lines defended Amazon’s Leo satellite broadband deal helped validate Amazon’s broader technology and connectivity ambitions.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several major hedge fund and billionaire portfolio updates showed mixed positioning in AMZN, with some managers adding and others trimming shares; this is more of a sentiment read than a direct fundamental catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: Amazon’s new Alexa+ feature that can generate podcast episodes adds to its consumer AI story, but the immediate financial impact appears limited.
• Negative Sentiment: Amazon is also facing a proposed class-action lawsuit over alleged tariff-related refund practices, which could add legal overhang and headline risk.

Amazon.com Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of AMZN opened at $264.86 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $235.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $230.94. Amazon.com, Inc. has a one year low of $196.00 and a one year high of $278.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.85 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.68, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.46.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $1.15. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 12.22%.The company had revenue of $181.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $177.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amazon.com Company 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.