North Star Asset Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Key Points

• North Star Asset Management increased its Amazon stake by 0.9% in Q4, adding 2,069 shares to bring its total to 225,424 shares worth about $52.0 million.
• Institutional ownership remains strong, with hedge funds and other investors continuing to add to AMZN positions and institutions holding 72.2% of the company’s shares.
• Analysts remain bullish on Amazon, with multiple firms raising price targets and a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” alongside a $312.52 average price target.

North Star Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 225,424 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after buying an additional 2,069 shares during the period. Amazon.com makes up 2.1% of North Star Asset Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. North Star Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $52,032,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AMZN. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Amazon.com by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,036,091 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $885,478,000 after buying an additional 397,007 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Amazon.com by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 25,045 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $5,495,000 after buying an additional 986 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in Amazon.com by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 2,016,869 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $442,481,000 after buying an additional 54,987 shares during the period. Highview Capital Management LLC DE lifted its holdings in Amazon.com by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 28,975 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $6,357,000 after buying an additional 1,518 shares during the period. Finally, Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Amazon.com in the fourth quarter valued at $2,153,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com News Summary

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 Analysts Forecast Growth

AMZN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $330.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Moffett Nathanson boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $283.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $312.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP David Zapolsky sold 9,270 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.53, for a total value of $2,489,273.10. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 41,190 shares in the company, valued at $11,060,750.70. This represents a 18.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.19, for a total transaction of $266,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 485,527 shares in the company, valued at $129,242,432.13. This represents a 0.21% decrease in their position. 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 worth $51,614,434 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 8.90% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com Trading Down 3.1%

AMZN opened at $246.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Amazon.com, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.00 and a fifty-two week high of $278.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.65 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.44. The company's 50-day moving average is $249.87 and its 200 day moving average is $232.98.

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 net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 19.92%. The company had revenue of $181.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $177.28 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.59 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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