Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN Stock Sold by First Merchants Corp

Key Points

• First Merchants Corp reduced its Amazon stake by 3.3% in the third quarter, selling 4,475 shares and retaining 130,544 shares valued at approximately $32.5 million.
• Institutional investors own 72.2% of Amazon, with several major firms—including State Street and Amundi—adding to their positions. Analysts maintain a bullish outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $322.53.
• Amazon’s growth outlook is supported by accelerating AWS demand, AI infrastructure, advertising and automation opportunities, though its major investment plan is pressuring free cash flow and raising concerns about near-term returns.

First Merchants Corp trimmed its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) by 3.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 130,544 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after selling 4,475 shares during the period. Amazon.com accounts for approximately 1.1% of First Merchants Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. First Merchants Corp's holdings in Amazon.com were worth $32,525,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Amazon.com by 5.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 411,848,346 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $95,504,904,000 after purchasing an additional 21,398,025 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $22,218,775,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $16,341,405,000. Amundi raised its stake in Amazon.com by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 63,822,242 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $15,211,393,000 after acquiring an additional 2,421,739 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Amazon.com in the 2nd quarter valued at $12,831,376,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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: AWS growth is accelerating, with analysts focused on stronger demand for AI infrastructure, a large cloud backlog and potential margin expansion. Morgan Stanley named Amazon a top pick and raised its price target to $350, citing AWS growth, advertising, Prime, and fulfillment automation as additional catalysts. Amazon's $350 Price Target Faces a Big Earnings Test
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Andy Jassy said Amazon’s Trainium chips could reduce AI inference costs, which he characterized as roughly 10 times too high today. Successful adoption of internally designed chips could lower AWS infrastructure costs and improve profitability. Amazon CEO Discusses AI Inference Costs and Trainium
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts also see longer-term upside from warehouse automation, logistics expansion and advertising monetization, while Amazon’s planned UK entry-level hiring initiative may support its workforce and public-image goals. Amazon Logistics Automation Offers Long-Term Margin Gains
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are awaiting the October 29 quarterly report, which is expected to clarify AWS growth, cloud margins, capital-spending guidance, free-cash-flow recovery and early Prime Day demand. Amazon Earnings Scheduled for October 29
• Negative Sentiment: The $220 billion investment plan has pushed free cash flow into the red and raised concerns that AI spending may outpace near-term returns. Reports that Nvidia hardware is waiting for available data-center power add execution risk to the infrastructure buildout. Amazon AI Hardware Awaits Data-Center Power

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore set a $355.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. DA Davidson reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Telsey Advisory Group set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 price objective on Amazon.com and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Fifty-seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $322.53.

Insider Activity

In other Amazon.com news, SVP David Zapolsky sold 9,258 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.77, for a total value of $2,404,950.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 41,190 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,699,926.30. This trade represents a 18.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Andrew Jassy sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.01, for a total transaction of $5,180,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,235,766 shares in the company, valued at $579,085,751.66. This represents a 0.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 71,589 shares of company stock valued at $18,580,515. Company insiders own 8.90% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $248.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.95, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.45. Amazon.com, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.00 and a fifty-two week high of $287.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $255.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $253.29.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $5.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $3.93. The company had revenue of $200.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $197.03 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 18.00% and a net margin of 17.44%. Amazon.com's revenue was up 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amazon.com Profile

Amazon.com, Inc is a global technology and e-commerce company founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994. Originally launched as an online bookstore, the company has expanded into a broad digital marketplace offering consumer products across numerous categories, including electronics, household goods, apparel, groceries and other merchandise. Amazon also sells products under its own brands and provides logistics, fulfillment and delivery services that support its retail operations and third-party sellers.

The company's principal businesses include online and physical retail, Amazon Web Services (AWS), digital advertising, subscription services and consumer technology.

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