Paul R. Ried Financial Group LLC Increases Stake in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Key Points

• Paul R. Ried Financial Group LLC increased its Amazon holdings by 41.4% in Q1 2023, owning nearly $2.1 million worth of shares, making Amazon its 15th largest investment.
• Institutional investors own 72.20% of Amazon's stock, with significant recent investments from Norges Bank and GAMMA Investing LLC, among others.
• Amazon's stock has a current average rating of "Moderate Buy" among analysts, with various price target upgrades reflecting positive outlooks.

Paul R. Ried Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) by 41.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,993 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after purchasing an additional 3,218 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com accounts for 1.5% of Paul R. Ried Financial Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Paul R. Ried Financial Group LLC's holdings in Amazon.com were worth $2,092,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Amazon.com during the 4th quarter worth about $27,266,582,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 21,420.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 30,245,061 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $5,754,425,000 after acquiring an additional 30,104,520 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Amazon.com by 36.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 65,709,496 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $14,416,078,000 after purchasing an additional 17,681,004 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Amazon.com by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 823,360,597 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $180,637,081,000 after purchasing an additional 17,635,391 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its position in Amazon.com by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 57,268,523 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $12,564,961,000 after acquiring an additional 12,000,745 shares during the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AMZN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Amazon.com from $245.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Amazon.com from $250.00 to $245.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $280.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday. Wedbush boosted their price target on Amazon.com from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $271.00 price target (up from $249.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $260.85.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jeffrey P. Bezos sold 2,643,142 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $230.43, for a total transaction of $609,059,211.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 883,779,901 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,649,402,587.43. This trade represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,099,537 shares of company stock worth $5,674,394,548. Company insiders own 9.70% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com Price Performance

NASDAQ AMZN traded down $19.36 on Friday, hitting $214.75. The stock had a trading volume of 122,007,379 shares, compared to its average volume of 44,843,602. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 52-week low of $151.61 and a 52-week high of $242.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $217.93 and a 200-day moving average of $209.23.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The e-commerce giant reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $167.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.80 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 24.14% and a net margin of 10.14%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 6.31 EPS for the current year.

Amazon.com Profile

Amazon.com, Inc engages in the retail sale of consumer products, advertising, and subscriptions service through online and physical stores in North America and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). It also manufactures and sells electronic devices, including Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TVs, Echo, Ring, Blink, and eero; and develops and produces media content.