Ares Financial Consulting LLC Invests $682,000 in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Key Points

• Ares Financial Consulting LLC initiated a new position in Amazon, buying 2,955 shares valued at about $682,000 in the fourth quarter.
• Institutional ownership remains heavy, with major firms like Vanguard, State Street, and Geode adding to their Amazon stakes; institutions and hedge funds now hold 72.20% of the stock.
• Amazon continues to get bullish attention from analysts thanks to AWS strength, AI-related demand, and Trainium chip opportunities, while the company also reported strong quarterly results and received multiple price-target increases.

Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,955 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock, valued at approximately $682,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Amazon.com by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 832,274,556 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $158,348,557,000 after purchasing an additional 8,913,959 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Amazon.com by 2.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 381,681,441 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $83,805,794,000 after buying an additional 7,584,156 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 216,717,657 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $47,332,625,000 after buying an additional 3,721,658 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the 2nd quarter worth $27,438,011,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Amazon.com by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 97,379,134 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $18,527,354,000 after buying an additional 302,858 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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: Evercore ISI’s Mark Mahaney reiterated a Buy rating on Amazon and raised his outlook tied to the company’s growing spectrum and “Leo” connectivity opportunities, signaling more upside potential. Article: Mark Mahaney Reiterates Buy on Amazon
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple articles pointed to AWS strength, with recent commentary saying Amazon’s cloud business is benefiting from AI demand and stronger-than-expected growth, helping reinforce the bullish valuation case. Article: Is Amazon.com One Of The Best Cloud Stocks To Buy As Azure Growth Hits 40%?
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to frame Amazon as an underappreciated AI winner, with bullish notes on AWS, Trainium chips, and enterprise partnerships suggesting durable upside from cloud monetization. Article: Amazon Stock Falls despite Surge in Trainium AI Chip Demand
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Douglas Herrington sold shares in a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, and another executive sale from Matthew Garman also drew attention, but these transactions do not appear to signal a change in Amazon’s operating outlook. SEC filing for Douglas J. Herrington sale
• Neutral Sentiment: Amazon also won an appeals-court case over allegations it helped with tariff evasion, removing a legal overhang and reducing near-term uncertainty. Article: Amazon.com defeats appeal claiming it aided tariff evasion
• Negative Sentiment: Offsetting the positive headlines, Amazon is still facing a class-action lawsuit tied to tariff-related pricing, which could create legal and reputational noise for investors. Article: Amazon Lawsuit Adds New Risk Layer To Valuation And Share Momentum

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In related news, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 3,706 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.02, for a total value of $1,011,812.12. Following the completion of 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 the SEC website. 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 that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $8,621,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,175,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at $598,335,650. This trade represents a 1.42% 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. Insiders sold a total of 201,026 shares of company stock valued at $49,128,874 over the last three months. Insiders own 8.90% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $265.01 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.46. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $237.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $231.45. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.00 and a 52 week high of $278.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $1.15. The firm had revenue of $181.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $177.28 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 12.22%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.59 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AMZN shares. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. TD Securities raised shares of Amazon.com to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. New Street Research increased their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $280.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. DZ Bank raised their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Fifty-seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Amazon.com presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $312.66.

Amazon.com 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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