Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec Makes New $1.34 Billion Investment in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Key Points

• Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec purchased 5.64 million Amazon shares worth approximately $1.34 billion in the second quarter, making Amazon its seventh-largest holding and about 1.9% of its portfolio.
• Amazon reported strong quarterly results, with $5.75 in earnings per share and $200.61 billion in revenue, exceeding analyst expectations; revenue increased 19.6% year over year. Analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $321.19.
• While AWS, artificial intelligence, advertising and commerce partnerships offer growth catalysts, Amazon faces risks from rising delivery and labor costs, macroeconomic pressure, competition over AI-driven shopping and uncertainty around its sustainability goals.

Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec purchased a new stake in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 5,641,092 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock, valued at approximately $1,344,498,000. Amazon.com comprises about 1.9% of Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec's portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec owned 0.05% of Amazon.com at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Silvant Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Amazon.com in the second quarter worth $60,065,000. Northstar Financial Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the second quarter worth $3,376,000. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Amazon.com by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 73,085 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $15,221,000 after buying an additional 5,125 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 303,862 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $63,285,000 after buying an additional 5,104 shares during the period. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,261,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of Amazon.com stock opened at $249.27 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $256.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $246.69. Amazon.com, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.00 and a fifty-two week high of $287.20. The firm has a market cap of $2.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $5.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $3.93. The company had revenue of $200.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $197.03 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 18.00% and a net margin of 17.44%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.68 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Key Stories Impacting Amazon.com

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

• Positive Sentiment: AI and cloud growth remain major potential catalysts. Amazon Web Services reportedly has a $496 billion backlog and a cloud operating margin near 39%, while the company launched agentic AI tools to automate listings, inventory management and other tasks for third-party sellers. These developments reinforce the investment case that AWS and AI can drive long-term earnings growth. Amazon rolls out new agentic AI for third-party sellers
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon is expanding higher-value advertising and commerce services. A deeper Best Buy Fire TV agreement will use Amazon Ads technology across Insignia televisions, potentially increasing connected-TV advertising revenue. Amazon also expanded its U.K. partnership with Affirm and its pickup network to nearly 30,000 locations, supporting customer convenience and transaction growth. Best Buy, Amazon Deepen Fire TV Alliance
• Neutral Sentiment: Anthropic’s potential $2 trillion IPO could benefit Amazon. Amazon is an Anthropic backer and could gain from the value of its investment and increased demand for AWS infrastructure, although the timing, valuation and eventual financial benefit remain uncertain. Alphabet vs. Amazon: Which Anthropic Backer Will Benefit More?
• Negative Sentiment: Amazon’s dispute with Meta over the Muse shopping agent creates strategic risk. Amazon blocked Meta’s rapidly adopted AI agent from accessing its marketplace, protecting control over customer data and checkout but potentially allowing rivals such as Shopify to capture agent-driven commerce. The standoff also raises questions about future rules for automated shopping. Meta's standoff with Amazon over Muse
• Negative Sentiment: Rising labor and delivery spending may weigh on margins. Amazon plans to invest $1.9 billion in its Delivery Service Partner program and is rehiring former employees for AI and cloud roles. Higher wages and staffing costs could pressure near-term profitability even if they support capacity and growth. Amazon puts another $1.9 billion into its delivery network
• Negative Sentiment: Sustainability execution is an investor concern. Amazon’s chief sustainability officer said the company does not yet know how it will achieve its 2040 net-zero carbon target, raising reputational and regulatory risks. Amazon's net-zero carbon challenge
• Negative Sentiment: Macro conditions amplified the selling pressure. Amazon was among the large technology stocks weighing on a weaker market as Treasury yields and oil prices rose, increasing valuation pressure on growth-oriented companies.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and set a $320.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Rosenblatt Securities assumed coverage on Amazon.com in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $335.00 price objective for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $320.00 target price (up from $315.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Amazon.com from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 14th. Fifty-six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $321.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Douglas Herrington sold 6,362 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.01, for a total value of $1,647,821.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 476,681 shares of the company's stock, valued at $123,465,145.81. This represents a 1.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 9,258 shares of Amazon.com 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 41,190 shares in the company, valued at $10,699,926.30. The trade was a 18.35% 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 have sold a total of 71,589 shares of company stock worth $18,568,785 over the last 90 days. 8.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc is a global technology and e-commerce company that operates online marketplaces and provides a broad range of consumer products and services. Its retail business sells merchandise directly to customers and enables third-party sellers to offer products through Amazon's websites and applications. The company also operates physical stores and provides services such as digital content, subscriptions, and consumer devices, including Kindle and Echo products.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides cloud computing, storage, database, analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other technology services to businesses, governments, and organizations.

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