Defender Capital LLC. Buys 18,092 Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Key Points

• Defender Capital significantly increased its Amazon stake by 171% in the second quarter, adding 18,092 shares to own 28,672 shares valued at approximately $6.8 million. Institutional investors collectively hold 72.2% of Amazon’s stock.
• Amazon reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $5.75 versus the $1.82 consensus and revenue of $200.61 billion, up 19.6% year over year. The stock opened at $258.63, while analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target near $322.
• AI and AWS growth remain key catalysts, but investors face risks from heavy capital spending, uncertain returns on initiatives such as Anthropic and Prime Video expansion, and competitive and execution challenges in satellite broadband and drone delivery.

Defender Capital LLC. raised its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) by 171.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,672 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after purchasing an additional 18,092 shares during the period. Amazon.com accounts for approximately 2.2% of Defender Capital LLC.'s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Defender Capital LLC.'s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $6,834,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Amazon.com during the fourth quarter worth about $32,868,735,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its position in Amazon.com by 27,376.7% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 98,448,885 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $2,272,397,000 after purchasing an additional 98,090,585 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its holdings in Amazon.com by 20,598.0% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 87,982,814 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $20,308,193,000 after acquiring an additional 87,557,736 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Amazon.com in the first quarter worth $11,674,091,000. Finally, Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 879.4% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 27,862,400 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $6,431,199,000 after acquiring an additional 25,017,588 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 3,741 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.76, for a total transaction of $982,985.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 467,138 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,745,180.88. This represents a 0.79% decrease in their position. The sale 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. Insiders have sold a total of 6,741 shares of company stock worth $1,767,335 in the last quarter. Insiders own 8.90% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $258.63 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.81, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.45. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 1 year low of $196.00 and a 1 year high of $287.20. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $249.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $239.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $5.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $197.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.68 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 19.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on AMZN shares. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $328.00 price target (up from $322.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, July 31st. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on Amazon.com from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Telsey Advisory Group set a $335.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Benchmark increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $325.00 price objective (up from $275.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifty-six have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $322.39.

Amazon.com News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: AI and AWS remain the main bullish catalysts: Amazon is part of a group of major technology companies expected to spend approximately $615 billion on AI infrastructure this year. AWS growth, a reported $496 billion backlog and an AI annualized revenue run rate above $25 billion reinforce the view that Amazon’s capital spending could translate into stronger long-term cloud revenue. AI infrastructure spending article
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support is strong: Rosenblatt initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $335 price target. The broader analyst consensus remains Moderately Buy, with an average target of about $322.56, suggesting substantial potential upside if AWS growth and margins improve. Rosenblatt coverage report
• Positive Sentiment: New growth initiatives could expand Amazon’s ecosystem: Prime Video plans to invest more than $2 billion in Latin America from 2027 through 2030, while the company is targeting drone delivery in nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns. Amazon also selected Austin for a multibillion-dollar robotics facility expected to create up to 500 jobs. Prime Video Latin America investment
• Neutral Sentiment: Anthropic investment offers both strategic value and valuation uncertainty: Amazon’s stake in the AI startup could become highly valuable if reported IPO valuations hold, and Anthropic supports AWS demand. However, some analysts question whether the private company’s potential valuation is justified by its current revenue and cash generation. Anthropic valuation analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are concerned about spending and near-term returns: The $2 billion Prime Video expansion adds to Amazon’s investment burden, while the market is focusing more on underlying cash generation than gains related to the rising value of Anthropic. Amazon Prime Video investment analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive and execution risks remain: SpaceX’s Starlink has more than 11,000 satellites compared with Amazon Leo’s fewer than 1,000, highlighting a significant gap in the satellite broadband race. Drone deliveries also face regulatory, noise, safety and reliability hurdles, including recent delivery mishaps. Starlink and Amazon Leo comparison

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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