Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $156.87 Million in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Key Points

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought 753,200 shares of Amazon in the first quarter, a stake valued at about $156.87 million. The position now represents roughly 2.7% of its portfolio and is its fourth-largest holding.
• Amazon reported strong first-quarter earnings, posting $2.78 per share versus the $1.63 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 16.6% year over year to $181.52 billion. The company also topped revenue expectations, reinforcing its operating momentum.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish on AMZN, with 57 Buy ratings and just three Holds, giving it a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The average price target sits at $312.78, and several firms recently raised targets or reiterated positive ratings.

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 753,200 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock, valued at approximately $156,869,000. Amazon.com makes up approximately 2.7% of Louisiana State Employees Retirement System's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. MilWealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 79.0% during the fourth quarter. MilWealth Group LLC now owns 179 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 900.0% during the 4th quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership now owns 200 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in Amazon.com by 95.6% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 221 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 87.7% during the fourth quarter. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. now owns 229 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com Trading Up 1.4%

Amazon.com stock opened at $241.70 on Thursday. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.00 and a 52 week high of $278.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.60 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.91, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.46. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $254.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $234.39. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $177.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.59 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AMZN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "buy" rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Maxim Group lifted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $325.00 price target (up from $275.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Fifty-seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $312.78.

Key Amazon.com News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Reuters reported that online spending rose 5.3% on the first day of Amazon’s Prime Day event, reinforcing expectations for strong e-commerce sales and helping lift sentiment around AMZN. Online Spending Rises 5.3% on First Day of Amazon’s (AMZN) Prime Day, Reuters Reports
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon disclosed a new $1 billion AWS Forward Deployed Engineering unit, aimed at embedding AI engineers with customers to speed enterprise AI adoption — a sign that management sees AI services as a major growth driver for AWS. Amazon’s AWS commits $1 billion toward new unit for embedded AI engineers
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon’s Prime promotions for fuel and grocery discounts around the July 4 holiday may support membership engagement and near-term retail traffic, adding another tailwind to the consumer story. From the Gas Pump to the Grill: Prime Introduces Summer Savings Just in Time for the Fourth of July
• Positive Sentiment: Several market commentators said Amazon could benefit from rising cloud budgets and broader AI spending, with some analysts arguing AWS is positioned to reap rewards from the enterprise software spending boom. Amazon Could Be About to Reap the Rewards of a Software Spending Boom
• Neutral Sentiment: Meta’s reported push into cloud infrastructure may increase competition for AWS over time, but the move also underscores the strength of the cloud/AI market that Amazon is competing in. Meta Plans Cloud Business to Take on Big Tech Rivals
• Neutral Sentiment: Amazon is also facing headline risk from Australia’s lawsuit over Prime Video ad terms and a separate FTC settlement, but those developments appear more like manageable legal overhangs than a change to the company’s core growth narrative. Australia sues Amazon unit over alleged breach via Prime Video ads

Insider Activity at Amazon.com

In other Amazon.com news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.19, for a total transaction of $266,190.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 485,527 shares in the company, valued at $129,242,432.13. This trade represents a 0.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.42, for a total transaction of $5,268,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,205,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $581,042,879.72. The trade was a 0.90% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 194,774 shares of company stock valued at $51,403,934. Insiders own 8.90% of the company's stock.

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.