Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN Position Lifted by Clarity Financial LLC

Key Points

• Clarity Financial LLC boosted its Amazon stake by 42.2% in the fourth quarter, buying 46,759 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 157,618 shares worth about $36.4 million.
• Amazon’s latest business updates are broadly positive: it launched Amazon Now, a 30-minute delivery service in dozens of U.S. cities, and TD Cowen reiterated a Buy rating with a $350 price target.
• The company also reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $2.78 versus $1.63 expected and revenue of $181.52 billion, while analysts remain constructive overall with a consensus Moderate Buy rating.

Clarity Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 42.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 157,618 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after buying an additional 46,759 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com comprises 3.4% of Clarity Financial LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Clarity Financial LLC's holdings in Amazon.com were worth $36,381,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lifelong Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Amazon.com by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Lifelong Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,740 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $402,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 886 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Western Financial Corp CA grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $710,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cadence Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cadence Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,328 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Key Amazon.com News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Amazon launched Amazon Now, a 30-minute delivery service in dozens of U.S. cities, reinforcing its push into ultra-fast commerce and potentially strengthening Prime and retail engagement. Amazon accelerates delivery race with 30-minute dropoffs in dozens of U.S. cities
• Positive Sentiment: TD Cowen reaffirmed a Buy rating on Amazon and set a $350 price target, signaling confidence in further upside from current levels. Analyst issues new Amazon (AMZN) stock price target
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon is expanding AI and cloud-related investment, including tapping overseas debt markets to help fund its AI infrastructure push, which supports the long-term growth narrative for AWS. Alphabet, Amazon tap overseas debt markets to fund AI infrastructure push
• Neutral Sentiment: Prime Video plans to invest at least 90 million euros in French-language film and TV production, underscoring international content spending but with a limited direct near-term financial impact. Amazon.com’s Prime Video Set to Invest 90 Million Euros in French Film and TV Production, Reuters Says
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Amazon workers are gaming internal AI tools and using them for trivial tasks are drawing scrutiny, but the stock reaction appears limited unless it points to wasted productivity or governance issues. Amazon staff use AI tool for unnecessary tasks to inflate usage scores
• Negative Sentiment: Amazon is facing some headline risk from a proposed class-action lawsuit over Fire TV Sticks and criticism around its rapid-delivery model, though these issues are smaller than the bullish catalysts above. Amazon Is Being Sued Over Fire TV Sticks That Stopped Working

Amazon.com Stock Down 1.2%

AMZN opened at $265.82 on Wednesday. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $231.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $229.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.46. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 12 month low of $196.00 and a 12 month high of $278.56.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $1.15. The business had revenue of $181.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $177.28 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 12.22%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.59 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on AMZN. Argus reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $325.00 target price (up from $275.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $280.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $350.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their target price on Amazon.com from $280.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Fifty-six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $313.09.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In other Amazon.com news, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 3,706 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.02, for a total transaction of $1,011,812.12. Following the sale, the director directly owned 74,948 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,462,302.96. The trade was a 4.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 31,352 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $8,621,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,175,766 shares in the company, valued at approximately $598,335,650. The trade was a 1.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 190,593 shares of company stock valued at $46,081,241 in the last three months. 8.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.

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