HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 315,420 Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,618,779 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 315,420 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com accounts for 1.4% of HighTower Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $1,296,927,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lifelong Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Lifelong Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,740 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Financial Connections Group Inc. boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 1,633 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Marquette Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 886 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Western Financial Corp CA boosted its stake 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 during the period. 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 owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amazon.com News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Amazon’s latest AI and logistics push is a major bullish catalyst: the company unveiled an upgraded warehouse robot and is backing a €10 billion expansion of its European fulfillment network, which should support faster shipping, lower costs, and better operating efficiency. Reuters: Amazon unveils new AI warehouse robot in $12 billion Europe push
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon Web Services continues to win large contracts, including Pinterest’s $4 billion cloud deal through 2031, reinforcing AWS’s role as a key AI infrastructure beneficiary. Reuters: Pinterest signs $4 billion Amazon deal for cloud services
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent market commentary pieces highlighted Amazon’s growing AI, cloud, and advertising opportunities, with analysts continuing to frame AMZN as a long-duration AI winner. MarketBeat: Amazon.com stock and related coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Amazon’s CEO Douglas Herrington sold 1,000 shares under a pre-arranged trading plan. The sale is small, but insider selling can still create some short-term caution. MarketBeat: Amazon.com insider trades
• Negative Sentiment: Amazon is facing fresh scrutiny over its aggressive AI spending, with employees publicly criticizing massive data-center investment while layoffs continue. That keeps cost and labor concerns front and center. CNBC: Amazon engineers in Seattle slam employer for building AI data centers while laying off staffers
• Negative Sentiment: Rising shipping costs tied to Middle East conflict could pressure Amazon’s retail margins ahead of Prime Day, adding another near-term headwind. Yahoo Finance: Iran war raises shipping costs ahead of Amazon Prime Day
• Negative Sentiment: Amazon also faces ongoing regulatory and reputational pressure from data-center pushback and privacy-related concerns around Ring, which may weigh on sentiment even if the long-term business outlook remains strong. Reuters: Texas grid flags risks as data centers, crypto sites fail voltage tests

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on AMZN. Sanford C. Bernstein restated 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. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, April 10th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Daiwa Securities Group dropped their price target on Amazon.com from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $325.00 price target (up from $275.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Fifty-seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $312.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 20,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,205,766 shares in the company, valued at $581,042,879.72. The trade was a 0.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Shelley Reynolds sold 2,363 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.38, for a total value of $620,003.94. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 119,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,427,876.40. The trade was a 1.93% 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 have sold a total of 195,774 shares of company stock worth $51,614,434 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 8.90% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $246.03 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $249.87 and a 200 day moving average of $232.98. The company has a market capitalization of $2.65 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.43, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.44. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.00 and a 1-year high of $278.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $1.15. The company had revenue of $181.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $177.28 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 12.22%.Amazon.com’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.59 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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.