Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN Stock: Verus Wealth Management LLC Boosts Holdings

Key Points

• Verus Wealth Management increased its Amazon stake by 389.3% in the third quarter, bringing its holdings to 13,885 shares valued at approximately $3.46 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 72.2% of Amazon’s stock.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with 57 Buy ratings and three Holds; Amazon has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $322.53. Morgan Stanley and other firms recently raised their targets, citing AWS growth and AI-related opportunities.
• Amazon’s AI expansion is supported by new Trainium software and plans for additional data-center power, but the company faces significant capital-spending, debt and free-cash-flow risks as it invests roughly $220 billion annually.

Verus Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 389.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,885 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after purchasing an additional 11,047 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com accounts for approximately 2.2% of Verus Wealth Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Verus Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Amazon.com were worth $3,459,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AMZN. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 411,848,346 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $95,504,904,000 after buying an additional 21,398,025 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 27,376.7% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 98,448,885 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $2,272,397,000 after buying an additional 98,090,585 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Amazon.com during the second quarter worth $22,218,775,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Amazon.com during the second quarter worth $16,341,405,000. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Amazon.com by 3.9% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 63,822,242 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $15,211,393,000 after buying an additional 2,421,739 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Amazon.com

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley names Amazon a top pick: The firm raised its price target to $350 from $335 and maintained an Overweight rating, citing an “under-appreciated” AWS growth runway. Morgan Stanley now expects AWS growth of approximately 47% in 2027, alongside potential gains from Bedrock, agentic AI, advertising, robotics and automated fulfillment. Amazon stock pops after Morgan Stanley details five catalysts
• Positive Sentiment: AWS makes Trainium easier to adopt: Amazon introduced TorchNeuron, a tool designed to let developers run existing PyTorch applications on its Trainium chips with minimal code changes. The software could reduce Nvidia’s CUDA-related ecosystem advantage, improve Trainium adoption and lower customer AI-computing costs. Amazon is taking its biggest shot at Nvidia with TorchNeuron
• Positive Sentiment: Long-term power strategy supports AI expansion: Amazon agreed to fund development of a proposed 960-megawatt Indiana nuclear plant and intends to purchase its electricity. The project could provide reliable power for expanding data-center capacity, although it remains subject to feasibility work and approvals. Amazon to fund 12 small nuclear reactors in Indiana
• Neutral Sentiment: Data-center supply chain activity: 3M expanded its commercial relationship with Amazon for data-center products, reportedly involving a multibillion-dollar opportunity. The agreement highlights continued infrastructure spending but does not appear to materially change Amazon’s near-term earnings outlook. 3M expands Amazon data center partnership
• Negative Sentiment: Capital intensity remains a risk: Commentary noted Amazon’s planned roughly $220 billion in annual capital expenditures, negative free cash flow and higher long-term debt. Investors will need evidence that AI spending translates into durable AWS revenue and margin expansion. Amazon’s AI data-center spending challenges

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on AMZN shares. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $350.00 target price (up from $335.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Monday. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $293.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $320.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Fifty-seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $322.53.

Amazon.com Price Performance

Shares of Amazon.com stock opened at $262.45 on Tuesday. Amazon.com, Inc. has a twelve month low of $196.00 and a twelve month high of $287.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $256.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $252.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.45.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $5.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $3.93. Amazon.com had a net margin of 17.44% and a return on equity of 18.00%. The firm had revenue of $200.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 19.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP David Zapolsky sold 9,258 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.77, for a total transaction of $2,404,950.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 41,190 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,699,926.30. This represents a 18.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 2,343 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.01, for a total value of $606,860.43. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 119,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,024,217.80. This trade represents a 1.92% 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 sold 71,589 shares of company stock valued at $18,580,515 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 8.90% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com Company 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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