Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Raises Position in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Key Points

• Rakuten Investment Management sharply increased its Amazon stake by 647.5% in the fourth quarter, ending with 1,483,366 shares valued at about $344.2 million.
• Wall Street remains broadly bullish on AMZN, with analysts assigning a Moderate Buy consensus and a consensus price target of $312.78; 57 analysts currently rate the stock a Buy.
• Amazon’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, posting $2.78 EPS versus $1.63 expected and revenue of $181.52 billion, while recent news highlights continued AI/cloud expansion alongside some regulatory risk from the FTC.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 647.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,483,366 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after purchasing an additional 1,284,910 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com comprises about 1.2% of Rakuten Investment Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $344,245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMZN. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in Amazon.com during the third quarter worth $451,642,000. Narwhal Capital Management lifted its holdings in Amazon.com by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 216,606 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $49,997,000 after buying an additional 4,854 shares during the period. Weaver Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Amazon.com by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 39,264 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $9,063,000 after buying an additional 4,713 shares during the period. Ethos Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Amazon.com by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 36,485 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $8,421,000 after buying an additional 3,196 shares during the period. Finally, Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Amazon.com by 1.9% during the third quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 239,862 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $52,667,000 after buying an additional 4,558 shares during the period. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on AMZN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating and set a $315.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Arete Research upped their target price on Amazon.com from $301.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $312.00 target price on Amazon.com and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Citigroup restated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on Amazon.com from $175.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Fifty-seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $312.78.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

Shares of AMZN opened at $246.00 on Wednesday. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 12 month low of $196.00 and a 12 month high of $278.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $254.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $233.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market cap of $2.65 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.44.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $1.15. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 12.22%.The firm had revenue of $181.52 billion during 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amazon.com News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Amazon Web Services is expanding its AI and cloud ecosystem, including a new collaboration that brings Dun & Bradstreet’s Commercial Graph into Amazon Quick to improve AI-driven sales, marketing, and finance workflows.
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon’s long-term growth story is being reinforced by continued AI infrastructure spending, including a multi-billion-dollar data center expansion in Missouri and broader capex plans that signal confidence in AWS demand.
• Positive Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed its Buy rating on Amazon, and other recent commentary highlights Wall Street’s bullish view with significant upside still implied for AMZN.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors continue to point to Amazon’s strong fundamentals, including its recent earnings beat, solid revenue growth, and improving profitability, as reasons the stock can keep outperforming over time.
• Neutral Sentiment: Amazon is also getting attention from the space-investing theme, as some market commentary argues its Project Leo satellite network could become a long-term growth opportunity, though it is still early-stage and not a near-term earnings driver.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports say the FTC has drafted a complaint against Amazon over alleged misleading ad pricing and disclosures, which could lead to a lawsuit, settlement, or billions of dollars in civil penalties.
• Negative Sentiment: Some investor commentary also notes that Amazon has faced pressure from higher AI and infrastructure spending, which can weigh on near-term margins even if it supports longer-term growth.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In related news, SVP David Zapolsky sold 9,270 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.53, for a total value of $2,489,273.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 41,190 shares in the company, valued at $11,060,750.70. This trade represents a 18.37% decrease in their position. The sale 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 27,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $7,562,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 471,361 shares of the company's stock, valued at $129,624,275. This trade represents a 5.51% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 195,774 shares of company stock worth $51,614,434. 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.

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