Blue Grotto Capital LLC Trims Stock Position in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Key Points

• Blue Grotto Capital LLC reduced its Amazon stake by 24.2% in the fourth quarter, selling 61,565 shares and leaving it with 193,250 shares worth about $44.6 million.
• Amazon continues to attract significant institutional interest, with several other investors adding to positions and 72.20% of the stock now owned by hedge funds and other institutions.
• Despite some insider selling, Amazon’s fundamentals and outlook remain strong: it recently beat earnings estimates, posted 16.6% revenue growth, and Wall Street holds a consensus Moderate Buy rating with a price target of $312.78.

Blue Grotto Capital LLC cut its holdings in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 24.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 193,250 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after selling 61,565 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com comprises approximately 4.6% of Blue Grotto Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Blue Grotto Capital LLC's holdings in Amazon.com were worth $44,606,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bluedoor Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Amazon.com during the fourth quarter worth about $5,674,000. Seaside Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Amazon.com by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Seaside Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,150 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $496,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. 71 West Capital Partners purchased a new position in Amazon.com during the fourth quarter worth about $22,779,000. Harborfront Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Amazon.com during the fourth quarter worth about $384,000. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp lifted its position in Amazon.com by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 167,500 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $38,662,000 after buying an additional 8,460 shares during the period. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Amazon.com news, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 15,467 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.40, for a total transaction of $4,074,007.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 14,159 shares in the company, valued at $3,729,480.60. This trade represents a 52.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 1,000 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 485,527 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $129,242,432.13. This trade represents a 0.21% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 195,774 shares of company stock worth $51,614,434 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 8.90% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Amazon.com

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

• Positive Sentiment: Amazon Web Services is expanding its AI and cloud ecosystem, including a new collaboration that brings Dun & Bradstreet’s Commercial Graph into Amazon Quick to improve AI-driven sales, marketing, and finance workflows.
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon’s long-term growth story is being reinforced by continued AI infrastructure spending, including a multi-billion-dollar data center expansion in Missouri and broader capex plans that signal confidence in AWS demand.
• Positive Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed its Buy rating on Amazon, and other recent commentary highlights Wall Street’s bullish view with significant upside still implied for AMZN.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors continue to point to Amazon’s strong fundamentals, including its recent earnings beat, solid revenue growth, and improving profitability, as reasons the stock can keep outperforming over time.
• Neutral Sentiment: Amazon is also getting attention from the space-investing theme, as some market commentary argues its Project Leo satellite network could become a long-term growth opportunity, though it is still early-stage and not a near-term earnings driver.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports say the FTC has drafted a complaint against Amazon over alleged misleading ad pricing and disclosures, which could lead to a lawsuit, settlement, or billions of dollars in civil penalties.
• Negative Sentiment: Some investor commentary also notes that Amazon has faced pressure from higher AI and infrastructure spending, which can weigh on near-term margins even if it supports longer-term growth.

Amazon.com Price Performance

AMZN stock opened at $246.00 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. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 1 year low of $196.00 and a 1 year high of $278.56. The firm has a market cap of $2.65 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.44. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $254.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $233.91.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 12.22%.The business had revenue of $181.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $177.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.59 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AMZN shares. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Truist Financial increased their target price on Amazon.com from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $320.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Amazon.com from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on Amazon.com from $175.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Fifty-seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $312.78.

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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