Merit Financial Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Key Points

• Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Amazon by 17.5% to 481,288 shares (about $111.09M), making AMZN roughly 0.9% of its portfolio and its 23rd largest holding.
• Amazon reported a strong Q1 beat — $2.78 EPS vs. $1.63 expected and $181.5B revenue — as AWS growth reaccelerated, and it launched Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS)
• Insiders sold 160,241 shares (~$37.7M) last quarter (including Rule 10b5‑1 plan sales), while analysts caution that heavy AI capex is pressuring free cash flow and could pose margin/execution risk.

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) by 17.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 481,288 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after purchasing an additional 71,744 shares during the period. Amazon.com comprises about 0.9% of Merit Financial Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Amazon.com were worth $111,091,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AMZN. Martin Capital Advisors LLP boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Martin Capital Advisors LLP now owns 10,508 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $2,425,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Welch Group LLC raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 65,396 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $15,095,000 after buying an additional 2,373 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,507,901 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $348,054,000 after buying an additional 136,709 shares in the last quarter. Roof Eidam Maycock Peralta LLC lifted its position in Amazon.com by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Roof Eidam Maycock Peralta LLC now owns 9,977 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $2,303,000 after purchasing an additional 1,405 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shelton Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Amazon.com by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,576 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $2,903,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amazon.com news, Director Jonathan Rubinstein sold 3,849 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $1,000,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 78,654 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,450,040. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their position. The sale 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, SVP David Zapolsky sold 10,649 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.43, for a total value of $2,187,624.07. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 41,190 shares in the company, valued at $8,461,661.70. The trade was a 20.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 160,241 shares of company stock worth $37,667,441 in the last quarter. Insiders own 8.90% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Amazon.com

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

• Positive Sentiment: Amazon launched Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS), opening its freight/fulfillment/parcel network to outside businesses — a potential high-margin new revenue stream that markets liken to the AWS playbook. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results and management messaging reinforced the growth narrative: AWS growth reaccelerated, revenue and EPS beat consensus, and CEO Andy Jassy framed the AI capex as a longer‑term ROI bet — supporting the bull case. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street moved more bullish: several firms raised price targets (examples include BNP Paribas raising its target), which amplifies upside expectations and buyer appetite. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon expanded same‑day fresh grocery deliveries to business customers (Amazon Business), extending addressable market and recurring order flows for grocery/fulfillment. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider selling by executives/directors has been disclosed (Rule 10b5‑1 plan filings); these appear to be planned dispositions rather than signals of change in strategy. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Amazon is rolling internal AI tooling (Claude Code, Codex) and experimenting with merging AI chat into core search — operational moves that can lift productivity and product UX but whose revenue timing is unclear. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: CapEx and free‑cash‑flow pressure remain a risk: analysts highlight that heavy AI infrastructure spending has pushed FCF sharply lower in the near term, raising execution/timing risk if AWS/AI revenue doesn’t scale as expected. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Macro and inflationary commentary warns large hyperscaler AI spending could add cost pressure (energy, wages, tariffs), which would be a multiplier on margin/valuation risk across the sector. Read More.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on AMZN. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Moffett Nathanson upped their price objective on Amazon.com from $283.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Evercore upped their price objective on Amazon.com from $285.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Roth Mkm increased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $285.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $280.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Fifty-six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Amazon.com currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $313.09.

Amazon.com Trading Up 0.5%

AMZN opened at $273.54 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.72, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The business has a 50 day moving average of $224.90 and a 200-day moving average of $227.88. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 52 week low of $183.85 and a 52 week high of $278.56.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $1.15. Amazon.com had a net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 19.92%. The business had revenue of $181.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $177.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.59 earnings per share. Amazon.com's quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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