Bailard Inc. Cuts Position in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Key Points

• Bailard Inc. reduced its Amazon stake by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 12,876 shares and ending with 258,962 shares worth about $59.8 million. Amazon remains a meaningful holding for the firm, representing about 1.3% of its portfolio.
• Wall Street remains broadly bullish on AMZN, with multiple analysts recently raising price targets and 57 analysts rating the stock a Buy. MarketBeat says Amazon has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with an average target price of $312.52.
• Amazon posted strong quarterly results, reporting EPS of $2.78 on revenue of $181.52 billion, both above expectations. The company also noted continued growth, with revenue up 16.6% year over year.

Bailard Inc. lessened its holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 258,962 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after selling 12,876 shares during the period. Amazon.com comprises approximately 1.3% of Bailard Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Bailard Inc.'s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $59,774,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Amazon.com in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,438,011,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the first quarter worth $11,674,091,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Amazon.com by 22,085.8% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,177,557 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $2,671,634,000 after purchasing an additional 12,122,668 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 21.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 57,908,424 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $11,017,657,000 after purchasing an additional 10,176,835 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 11.3% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 94,284,962 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $20,702,362,000 after purchasing an additional 9,583,217 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on AMZN. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on shares of Amazon.com from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Amazon.com from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $280.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Mizuho increased their target price on Amazon.com from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "market outperform" rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Monday. Fifty-seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Amazon.com currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $312.52.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 27,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $7,562,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 471,361 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $129,624,275. This trade represents a 5.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 9,270 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.53, for a total transaction of $2,489,273.10. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 41,190 shares in the company, valued at $11,060,750.70. This trade represents a 18.37% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 195,774 shares of company stock valued at $51,614,434. Company insiders own 8.90% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com Price Performance

Shares of AMZN opened at $250.02 on Thursday. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 12 month low of $196.00 and a 12 month high of $278.56. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $248.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $232.76. The company has a market cap of $2.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.91, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.44.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $1.15. The company had revenue of $181.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $177.28 billion. Amazon.com had a net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 19.92%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.59 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Key Amazon.com News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Amazon’s Prime Day will run June 23-26 and is being moved earlier than usual, giving investors a near-term catalyst for higher e-commerce sales and Prime sign-ups. The company also said Alexa AI will help power shopping, which could boost engagement. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon overtook Walmart to become the largest U.S. company by revenue in 2025, highlighting strong top-line growth and reinforcing the company’s scale advantage. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary continue to point to AWS, advertising, subscriptions, and AI as long-term growth drivers, with multiple firms reiterating bullish ratings and price targets well above current levels. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Amazon announced AI-generated product images in its shopping app and launched Prime in South Africa, both of which are strategic moves but not immediate stock catalysts. Article Title Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Amazon shares are being weighed by broad tech-sector selling, with the Nasdaq falling and big tech under pressure across the market. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Douglas Herrington sold 1,000 shares under a pre-arranged trading plan, and Amazon insiders have been net sellers over the past six months, which can weigh on sentiment. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: New headlines on Ring facial-recognition lawsuits and possible EU cloud procurement restrictions add regulatory and privacy overhangs for AWS and connected devices. Article Title Article Title

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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