Community Trust & Investment Co. Purchases 9,328 Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Key Points

• Community Trust & Investment Co. increased its Amazon stake by 2.7% in the third quarter, buying 9,328 shares and bringing its holdings to 348,907 shares valued at approximately $86.9 million.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive on Amazon, with 57 analysts assigning Buy ratings and a consensus price target of $322.53; recent earnings also exceeded expectations, with revenue up 19.6% year over year.
• Amazon’s AI-related growth opportunities—including AWS demand and Trainium chips—are key catalysts, but the company faces concerns over its planned $220 billion investment program, negative free cash flow and data-center power constraints.

Community Trust & Investment Co. lifted its holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 348,907 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after purchasing an additional 9,328 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com accounts for about 4.2% of Community Trust & Investment Co.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Community Trust & Investment Co.'s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $86,930,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMZN. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the 2nd quarter worth $22,218,775,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the 2nd quarter worth $16,341,405,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Amazon.com in the 2nd quarter worth $12,831,376,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Amazon.com in the 2nd quarter worth $6,631,466,000. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in Amazon.com during the second quarter valued at $5,910,083,000. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMZN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Phillip Securities cut Amazon.com from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $385.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Fifty-seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $322.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.01, for a total value of $5,180,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,235,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $579,085,751.66. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Brian T. Olsavsky sold 6,172 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.31, for a total transaction of $1,606,633.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 109,207 shares in the company, valued at $28,427,674.17. This trade represents a 5.35% 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 sold a total of 71,589 shares of company stock worth $18,580,515 over the last ninety days. 8.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Amazon.com Price Performance

Shares of Amazon.com stock opened at $248.00 on Friday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $255.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $253.29. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.00 and a 52 week high of $287.20. The company has a market capitalization of $2.68 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.95, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.45. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $3.93. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 18.00% and a net margin of 17.44%. The firm had revenue of $200.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $197.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.68 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Key Headlines Impacting Amazon.com

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

• Positive Sentiment: AWS growth is accelerating, with analysts focused on stronger demand for AI infrastructure, a large cloud backlog and potential margin expansion. Morgan Stanley named Amazon a top pick and raised its price target to $350, citing AWS growth, advertising, Prime, and fulfillment automation as additional catalysts. Amazon's $350 Price Target Faces a Big Earnings Test
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Andy Jassy said Amazon’s Trainium chips could reduce AI inference costs, which he characterized as roughly 10 times too high today. Successful adoption of internally designed chips could lower AWS infrastructure costs and improve profitability. Amazon CEO Discusses AI Inference Costs and Trainium
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts also see longer-term upside from warehouse automation, logistics expansion and advertising monetization, while Amazon’s planned UK entry-level hiring initiative may support its workforce and public-image goals. Amazon Logistics Automation Offers Long-Term Margin Gains
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are awaiting the October 29 quarterly report, which is expected to clarify AWS growth, cloud margins, capital-spending guidance, free-cash-flow recovery and early Prime Day demand. Amazon Earnings Scheduled for October 29
• Negative Sentiment: The $220 billion investment plan has pushed free cash flow into the red and raised concerns that AI spending may outpace near-term returns. Reports that Nvidia hardware is waiting for available data-center power add execution risk to the infrastructure buildout. Amazon AI Hardware Awaits Data-Center Power

Amazon.com Profile

Amazon.com, Inc is a global technology and e-commerce company founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994. Originally launched as an online bookstore, the company has expanded into a broad digital marketplace offering consumer products across numerous categories, including electronics, household goods, apparel, groceries and other merchandise. Amazon also sells products under its own brands and provides logistics, fulfillment and delivery services that support its retail operations and third-party sellers.

The company's principal businesses include online and physical retail, Amazon Web Services (AWS), digital advertising, subscription services and consumer technology.

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