Amazon.com Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 912,665 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 14% compared to the typical daily volume of 800,407 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP David Zapolsky sold 9,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.53, for a total transaction of $2,489,273.10. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 41,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,060,750.70. This represents a 18.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 31,352 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $8,621,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,175,766 shares in the company, valued at $598,335,650. This trade represents a 1.42% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders have sold a total of 135,719 shares of company stock valued at $36,438,002 in the last quarter. 8.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Amazon.com

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. MilWealth Group LLC grew its position in shares of Amazon.com by 79.0% during the 4th quarter. MilWealth Group LLC now owns 179 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Amazon.com by 900.0% in the 4th quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership now owns 200 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its stake in Amazon.com by 95.6% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 221 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 87.7% during the fourth quarter. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. now owns 229 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Amazon.com News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Strong Q2 results: Amazon reported $200.6 billion in revenue, up 20% year over year, while adjusted earnings per share of $5.75 substantially exceeded the $1.82 consensus estimate. Operating income increased 43% to $27.5 billion. Amazon.com Announces Second Quarter Results
• Positive Sentiment: AWS growth eased AI-spending concerns: AWS revenue surged 37% to $42.2 billion, its fastest growth in more than four years, as enterprise AI demand and new arrangements with Meta and OpenAI drove cloud consumption. AWS operating profit reached $16.6 billion, supporting the view that Amazon is beginning to monetize its substantial AI investments. Amazon jumps as AWS growth soothes fears over rising AI spending
• Positive Sentiment: Broad business momentum: North America sales rose 16%, advertising revenue climbed 26% to nearly $20 billion, and Prime Day activity helped support the retail business. Amazon also said AI demand remains strong, with CEO Andy Jassy describing future AWS capacity needs as “striking.” Amazon Thrives On Big Q2 For AI, Advertising Revenue Climbs
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism intensified: JPMorgan raised its price target to $365 from $330 and maintained an Overweight rating. Truist lifted its target to $350 from $320, while Monness Crespi, Rosenblatt, KeyCorp, Baird, Bank of America and other firms also raised or reaffirmed bullish targets. J.P. Morgan raises Amazon price target
• Positive Sentiment: Zoox reached a commercial milestone: Amazon’s autonomous-vehicle unit received approval to begin charging for rides in its purpose-built, steering-wheel-free robotaxis, allowing limited deployment in Las Vegas. The move could create a long-term growth option, although safety advocates questioned the supporting data. Amazon’s Zoox to begin charging for rides in Las Vegas
• Neutral Sentiment: Investment returns remain under scrutiny: Amazon plans approximately $220 billion of 2026 capital spending, largely for AI infrastructure. Management sees demand exceeding available capacity, but the spending weighs on free cash flow and has raised questions about financing and future margins. Amazon will spend $220 billion this year
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term guidance was softer than expected: Amazon forecast third-quarter revenue of $197 billion to $202 billion, below the roughly $204.6 billion analyst consensus, creating a potential offset to the otherwise strong results.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on AMZN. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $365.00 price objective (up from $330.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday. Finally, HSBC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday. Fifty-seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $321.40.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

Amazon.com stock traded up $35.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $270.72. 60,712,466 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 49,572,262. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $245.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $235.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.46. Amazon.com has a 1 year low of $196.00 and a 1 year high of $278.56.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $5.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $3.93. The firm had revenue of $200.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $197.03 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 12.22%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Amazon.com will post 7.76 EPS 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.