Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $3.99 Billion Stock Position in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group trimmed its Amazon stake by 2.3% in the first quarter, but still held 19.15 million shares worth about $3.99 billion, making AMZN its fourth-largest position.
• Amazon shares were down about 0.7% in Friday trading, opening at $232.11, even as the company remains valued at roughly $2.5 trillion.
• The company beat its latest quarterly expectations, posting $2.78 EPS on $181.52 billion in revenue, while analysts remain broadly bullish with a consensus Moderate Buy rating and average target price of $312.91.

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) by 2.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,149,017 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after selling 459,229 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com comprises approximately 2.1% of Principal Financial Group Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.18% of Amazon.com worth $3,988,169,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Amazon.com in the 4th quarter valued at $32,868,735,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 27,376.7% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 98,448,885 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $2,272,397,000 after purchasing an additional 98,090,585 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 20,598.0% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 87,982,814 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $20,308,193,000 after purchasing an additional 87,557,736 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the 1st quarter valued at about $11,674,091,000. Finally, Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its position in shares of Amazon.com by 879.4% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 27,862,400 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $6,431,199,000 after purchasing an additional 25,017,588 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of AMZN stock opened at $232.11 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.46. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 1 year low of $196.00 and a 1 year high of $278.56. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $248.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $236.32. 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 (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.63 by $1.15. The firm had revenue of $181.52 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.59 EPS. Research analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Amazon.com news, VP Shelley Reynolds sold 2,363 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $262.38, for a total transaction of $620,003.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 119,780 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,427,876.40. The trade was a 1.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 15,467 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.40, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 52.21% 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 sold 140,425 shares of company stock valued at $37,715,464 over the last 90 days. 8.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AMZN shares. Citigroup reissued a "market outperform" rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $320.00 price objective (up from $300.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Amazon.com from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Benchmark raised their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $275.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $320.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Fifty-seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $312.91.

More Amazon.com News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Options data and several analyst/commentary pieces suggest traders expect a post-earnings move higher, and multiple firms remain bullish on AMZN heading into the July 30 report. Ahead of Amazon Earnings, Here's What Barchart Data Says Comes Next for AMZN Stock
• Positive Sentiment: India eased e-commerce export rules, which is a win for Amazon’s international marketplace ambitions and could support long-term growth. India relaxes e-commerce investment rules for exports in win for Amazon
• Positive Sentiment: Several bullish research notes continue to frame AWS, custom silicon, and Amazon’s AI buildout as long-term growth drivers, with some investors arguing the capex surge should ultimately strengthen Amazon’s competitive moat. Amazon: Why The CapEx Surge Makes Me More Bullish, Not Less

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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