HighTower Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors increased its Amazon stake by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, adding 315,420 shares and bringing its total holding to 5.62 million shares worth about $1.30 billion.
• Amazon’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $2.78 and revenue of $181.52 billion, both ahead of analyst estimates; revenue also rose 16.6% year over year.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive on AMZN, with 57 Buy ratings and a consensus price target of $312.52, even as insiders have sold shares in recent months.

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,618,779 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after purchasing an additional 315,420 shares during the period. Amazon.com comprises 1.4% of HighTower Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. HighTower Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Amazon.com worth $1,296,927,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AMZN. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,036,091 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $885,478,000 after purchasing an additional 397,007 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 25,045 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $5,495,000 after purchasing an additional 986 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 2,016,869 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $442,481,000 after purchasing an additional 54,987 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE grew its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 28,975 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $6,357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the fourth quarter worth about $2,153,000. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Amazon.com Price Performance

Amazon.com stock opened at $246.03 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.65 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.43, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.44. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.00 and a 52-week high of $278.56. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $249.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $232.98. 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 (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.63 by $1.15. The firm had revenue of $181.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $177.28 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 12.22%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.59 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amazon.com news, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 31,352 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $8,621,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,175,766 shares in the company, valued at approximately $598,335,650. This represents a 1.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 15,467 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.40, for a total value of $4,074,007.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 14,159 shares in the company, valued at $3,729,480.60. The trade was a 52.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 195,774 shares of company stock valued at $51,614,434 over the last 90 days. 8.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Amazon.com News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Amazon’s latest AI and logistics push is a major bullish catalyst: the company unveiled an upgraded warehouse robot and is backing a €10 billion expansion of its European fulfillment network, which should support faster shipping, lower costs, and better operating efficiency. Reuters: Amazon unveils new AI warehouse robot in $12 billion Europe push
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon Web Services continues to win large contracts, including Pinterest’s $4 billion cloud deal through 2031, reinforcing AWS’s role as a key AI infrastructure beneficiary. Reuters: Pinterest signs $4 billion Amazon deal for cloud services
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent market commentary pieces highlighted Amazon’s growing AI, cloud, and advertising opportunities, with analysts continuing to frame AMZN as a long-duration AI winner. MarketBeat: Amazon.com stock and related coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Amazon’s CEO Douglas Herrington sold 1,000 shares under a pre-arranged trading plan. The sale is small, but insider selling can still create some short-term caution. MarketBeat: Amazon.com insider trades
• Negative Sentiment: Amazon is facing fresh scrutiny over its aggressive AI spending, with employees publicly criticizing massive data-center investment while layoffs continue. That keeps cost and labor concerns front and center. CNBC: Amazon engineers in Seattle slam employer for building AI data centers while laying off staffers
• Negative Sentiment: Rising shipping costs tied to Middle East conflict could pressure Amazon’s retail margins ahead of Prime Day, adding another near-term headwind. Yahoo Finance: Iran war raises shipping costs ahead of Amazon Prime Day
• Negative Sentiment: Amazon also faces ongoing regulatory and reputational pressure from data-center pushback and privacy-related concerns around Ring, which may weigh on sentiment even if the long-term business outlook remains strong. Reuters: Texas grid flags risks as data centers, crypto sites fail voltage tests

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research restated an "outperform" rating and set a $320.00 price target (up from $245.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. HSBC increased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $280.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wedbush decreased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $340.00 to $300.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $296.00 to $332.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Fifty-seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $312.52.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AMZN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report).

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.