ARS Investment Partners LLC Purchases 23,262 Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Key Points

• ARS Investment Partners LLC increased its Amazon stake by 12.8% in the first quarter, buying 23,262 more shares and bringing its total holdings to 205,565 shares worth about $42.8 million.
• Amazon continues to draw strong institutional support, with hedge funds and other investors owning 72.2% of the stock, even as some insiders have recently sold shares under pre-arranged trading plans.
• The article highlights several bullish catalysts for Amazon, including an earlier-than-usual Prime Day expected to drive record online spending, continued growth in AWS and advertising, and new AI-focused commerce features.

ARS Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) by 12.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 205,565 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after purchasing an additional 23,262 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com makes up approximately 2.2% of ARS Investment Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. ARS Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Amazon.com were worth $42,813,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MilWealth Group LLC grew its stake in Amazon.com by 79.0% in the fourth quarter. MilWealth Group LLC now owns 179 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new position in Amazon.com in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership lifted its position in Amazon.com by 900.0% during the fourth quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership now owns 200 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 95.6% during the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 221 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 87.7% during the 4th quarter. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. now owns 229 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Prime Day has kicked off earlier than usual and is expected to generate record online spending, with estimates above $26 billion across retailers; that could lift Amazon’s retail revenue and merchant activity. Amazon Prime Day expected to drive record $26B in online spending
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon is leaning hard into AI commerce during Prime Day, including Alexa for Shopping and new agentic ads that can place purchases automatically, which could improve engagement and show off Amazon’s AI monetization strategy. Amazon ads can make purchases for you
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analyst-style commentaries remain bullish, citing AWS reacceleration, advertising growth, Prime subscriptions, and the possibility that Amazon’s AI chips could become an additional business line. Amazon: You Aren't Bullish Enough
• Positive Sentiment: A new AWS partnership with ArcelorMittal and another AWS deal with PennyMac highlight continued enterprise adoption of Amazon’s cloud and AI tools. Amazon teams with ArcelorMittal to bring AI into steel plants
• Neutral Sentiment: Prime Day is also being viewed as a consumer spending litmus test, with more focus on basics and household goods than discretionary splurges, so results will be important for sentiment but not clearly a direct positive or negative. Amazon Prime Day to gauge US consumer strain
• Negative Sentiment: AMZN has been caught in a broader selloff in big tech as investors worry about heavy AI capital spending and uncertain near-term returns, which has weighed on the stock despite strong fundamentals. Alphabet sinks, Amazon slides amid AI capex anxiety
• Negative Sentiment: Amazon also faces fresh labor and regulatory overhangs, including an order to bargain with Teamsters at a California fulfillment center and renewed FTC-related concern. Amazon told to negotiate with Teamsters

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amazon.com news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 1,000 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.19, for a total value of $266,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 485,527 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $129,242,432.13. The trade was a 0.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Shelley Reynolds sold 2,363 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.38, for a total transaction of $620,003.94. Following the sale, the vice president owned 119,780 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,427,876.40. This represents a 1.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 have sold a total of 195,774 shares of company stock valued at $51,614,434 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 8.90% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $234.11 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market cap of $2.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $256.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $234.12. Amazon.com, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.00 and a fifty-two week high of $278.56.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMZN has been the subject of several research reports. Wolfe Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $320.00 price target (up from $245.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. China Renaissance boosted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Amazon.com from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Fifty-seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $312.78.

About Amazon.com

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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