Strs Ohio Reduces Stock Holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Key Points

• Strs Ohio cut its Amazon stake by 5.5% in the first quarter, selling 212,699 shares and leaving it with 3.65 million shares worth about $759.9 million. Amazon still represented roughly 3% of the fund’s holdings and remained its fourth-largest position.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with major investors like Vanguard, State Street, Geode Capital, and Norges Bank either adding to or maintaining large positions. Overall, institutions own about 72.2% of Amazon’s stock.
• Analysts and recent headlines stay broadly positive on Amazon, citing strong AI/data-center spending, improving retail trends, and several raised price targets. However, investor caution persists around heavy capital expenditures, debt needs, and insider selling by executives.

Strs Ohio reduced its stake in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 5.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,648,611 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after selling 212,699 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com accounts for approximately 3.0% of Strs Ohio's holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Strs Ohio's holdings in Amazon.com were worth $759,896,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Amazon.com by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 832,274,556 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $158,348,557,000 after acquiring an additional 8,913,959 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Amazon.com by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 388,653,121 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $89,708,913,000 after acquiring an additional 6,971,680 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Amazon.com by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 225,120,994 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $51,753,622,000 after acquiring an additional 2,479,324 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,868,735,000. Finally, Auto Owners Insurance Co grew 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 worth $2,272,397,000 after purchasing an additional 98,090,585 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Amazon.com News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Several reports highlighted Amazon’s expanding AI/data-center buildout, including plans to increase capacity and a $25 billion bond sale to fund infrastructure, which bulls see as supporting long-term AWS growth. Amazon’s New Debt Deal Puts Its AI Spending Story on Trial
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst coverage remained constructive, with BNP Paribas keeping an Outperform rating and a $345 target, while BofA raised its price target and cited improving sell-through trends for Amazon’s retail business. Amazon's Valuation Looks Attractive Ahead of Earnings: Analyst
• Positive Sentiment: Articles also framed Amazon as a leading AI winner, noting that hyperscaler spending may be “pre-sold” through future demand and that Amazon’s valuation remains attractive relative to peers. Nervous About AI Spending? Buy the Stocks of These 3 Tech Giants.
• Neutral Sentiment: One story said Amazon is cheaper than Walmart and Costco on a key valuation metric, but the explanation was more about business mix than a clear near-term catalyst. Why Is Amazon so Much Cheaper Than Walmart and Costco? This Is the Only Answer I Can Think of.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain wary of Amazon’s heavy capex and rising debt needs, with some coverage warning that free cash flow has been squeezed as the company funds its AI expansion. Huge News for Amazon Stock Investors!
• Negative Sentiment: There were also headlines about Third Point trimming its Amazon stake and commentary about insider selling, which can add to short-term caution. Billionaire Investor Retreats From Retail, Exits Alibaba Entirely, Cuts Amazon Stake 10%

Insider Activity

In other Amazon.com news, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 15,467 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,159 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,729,480.60. This represents a 52.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 31,352 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $8,621,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,175,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $598,335,650. The trade was a 1.42% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 195,774 shares of company stock valued at $51,643,704. Company insiders own 8.90% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMZN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $313.00 target price (up from $312.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $330.00 price target (up from $280.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating and issued a $325.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Arete Research increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $301.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $265.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Fifty-seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $312.79.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

Amazon.com stock opened at $245.34 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $253.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $235.35. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.00 and a 52-week high of $278.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.46.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.63 by $1.15. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 12.22%.The company had revenue of $181.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $177.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.59 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.75 EPS 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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