Sanders Morris Harris LLC Trims Position in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Key Points

• Sanders Morris Harris LLC cut its Amazon stake by 78.4% in the second quarter, selling 13,340 shares and retaining 3,670 shares valued at approximately $875,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds still own 72.2% of Amazon.
• Wall Street remains broadly bullish: Amazon has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating, with 56 Buy, one Strong Buy and two Hold ratings, and an average price target of $322.56.
• Amazon reported strong quarterly results, including $5.75 in earnings per share versus a $1.82 estimate and $200.61 billion in revenue, up 19.6% year over year. Shares opened at $261.31, down 0.5%, while insiders have sold about $16.5 million of stock over the past 90 days.

Sanders Morris Harris LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN - Free Report) by 78.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,670 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after selling 13,340 shares during the quarter. Sanders Morris Harris LLC's holdings in Amazon.com were worth $875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Archer Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Amazon.com in the second quarter valued at $267,000. Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 13,184 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $3,142,000 after buying an additional 1,255 shares during the last quarter. Post Resch Tallon Group Inc. grew its holdings in Amazon.com by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Post Resch Tallon Group Inc. now owns 3,460 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $825,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Bill Few Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Amazon.com by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc. now owns 9,535 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $2,273,000 after buying an additional 580 shares during the period. Finally, Foster Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 23,208 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $5,531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,837 shares during the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AMZN. Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Pivotal Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $333.00 price target (up from $320.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group set a $318.00 price target on shares of Amazon.com and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Amazon.com from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifty-six have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $322.56.

Key Headlines Impacting Amazon.com

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley maintained a Buy rating and a $335 price target, arguing that AWS could eventually become a $1 trillion annual-revenue business. The firm’s bullish case sees substantial upside if AI demand supports sustained cloud growth and improved earnings. Amazon Maintained at Buy as Analyst Sees Trillion-Dollar AWS Opportunity
• Positive Sentiment: Several prominent investors increased their Amazon exposure. Stanley Druckenmiller raised Duquesne’s position by more than 11 times, David Tepper made Amazon Appaloosa’s largest holding, and Peter Thiel’s fund listed AMZN as its top disclosed stock. These filings reinforce institutional confidence in Amazon’s AI and cloud strategy. Billionaire Investors’ Amazon Positions
• Positive Sentiment: Investor commentary highlighted AWS’s internally developed chips as a potentially underappreciated business that could improve Amazon’s AI economics and create additional strategic value. Amazon’s Underappreciated Chip Business
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon’s investment in Anthropic has become large enough to affect reported earnings, adding potential upside from AI-related holdings, although private-company valuations can be difficult to realize. Amazon’s Anthropic Investment

Amazon.com Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $261.31 on Tuesday. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.00 and a 52-week high of $287.20. The company has a market capitalization of $2.82 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $248.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $238.78.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $5.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $3.93. The firm had revenue of $200.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.03 billion. Amazon.com had a net margin of 17.44% and a return on equity of 18.00%. The firm's revenue was up 19.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.68 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 6,370 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.39, for a total value of $1,671,424.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 486,527 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $127,659,819.53. This represents a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 15,467 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.40, for a total value of $4,074,007.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 14,159 shares in the company, valued at $3,729,480.60. This represents a 52.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 62,650 shares of company stock valued at $16,535,457. Insiders own 8.90% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com 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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