Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Cut to "Hold" at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Amazon.com has been downgraded by Zacks Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating, reflecting changing sentiments among analysts.
• Despite the downgrade, several brokerages have increased their target prices for Amazon, with Jefferies Financial Group setting a new target of $265.00 and Pivotal Research increasing theirs to $285.00.
• In its most recent earnings report, Amazon exceeded expectations with $1.68 earnings per share, surpassing the consensus estimate of $1.31, and reported a 13.3% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on AMZN. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Amazon.com from $255.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on Amazon.com from $260.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $285.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $262.87.

Amazon.com Stock Down 1.8%

AMZN opened at $223.81 on Tuesday. Amazon.com has a 12 month low of $161.38 and a 12 month high of $242.52. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $222.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $208.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market cap of $2.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.31.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.37. Amazon.com had a net margin of 10.54% and a return on equity of 23.84%. The business had revenue of $167.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Amazon.com has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Amazon.com will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In related news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 4,784 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $232.32, for a total transaction of $1,111,418.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 510,255 shares in the company, valued at $118,542,441.60. This represents a 0.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,643,142 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.43, for a total value of $609,059,211.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 883,779,901 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,649,402,587.43. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,012,284 shares of company stock valued at $5,656,976,492 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 9.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. increased its position in Amazon.com by 36.0% during the second quarter. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. now owns 7,387 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $1,621,000 after acquiring an additional 1,957 shares during the period. Tull Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Amazon.com by 11.9% in the 2nd quarter. Tull Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,160 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $474,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the period. Monarch Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Amazon.com by 28.2% in the 2nd quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,518 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $552,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. North Dallas Bank & Trust Co. bought a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the 2nd quarter worth about $5,045,000. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 36,939 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $8,248,000 after purchasing an additional 3,950 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com Company Profile

Amazon.com, Inc engages in the retail sale of consumer products, advertising, and subscriptions service through online and physical stores in North America and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). It also manufactures and sells electronic devices, including Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TVs, Echo, Ring, Blink, and eero; and develops and produces media content.

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