United Community Bank Reduces Holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Key Points

• United Community Bank reduced its Amazon stake by 29% in the fourth quarter, selling 4,254 shares and ending with 10,426 shares valued at about $2.41 million.
• Amazon continues to draw strong Wall Street support, with several analysts reiterating Buy/Outperform ratings and an average target price of $312.66. Most analysts remain bullish, with 57 Buy ratings versus just 3 Hold ratings.
• The company reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting earnings of $2.78 per share on revenue of $181.52 billion, both ahead of estimates, while revenue grew 16.6% year over year.

United Community Bank trimmed its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 29.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,426 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after selling 4,254 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com makes up approximately 0.9% of United Community Bank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. United Community Bank's holdings in Amazon.com were worth $2,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AMZN. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Amazon.com by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,036,091 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $885,478,000 after purchasing an additional 397,007 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Amazon.com by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 25,045 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $5,495,000 after purchasing an additional 986 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its position in shares of Amazon.com by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 2,016,869 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $442,481,000 after purchasing an additional 54,987 shares in the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its position in shares of Amazon.com by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 28,975 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock worth $6,357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Liberty Square Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,153,000. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $315.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. 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 report on Thursday, April 30th. Daiwa Securities Group dropped their target price on Amazon.com from $300.00 to $280.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating and issued a $350.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $330.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report 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, Amazon.com has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $312.66.

Amazon.com Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:AMZN opened at $265.01 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.70, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.00 and a 52-week high of $278.56. The business has a fifty day moving average of $237.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $231.45.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.63 by $1.15. The business 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 revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.59 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $7,562,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 471,361 shares in the company, valued at approximately $129,624,275. This represents a 5.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 31,352 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total value of $8,621,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,175,766 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $598,335,650. This represents a 1.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 201,026 shares of company stock valued at $49,128,874. 8.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Amazon.com

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

• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI’s Mark Mahaney reiterated a Buy rating on Amazon and raised his outlook tied to the company’s growing spectrum and “Leo” connectivity opportunities, signaling more upside potential. Article: Mark Mahaney Reiterates Buy on Amazon
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple articles pointed to AWS strength, with recent commentary saying Amazon’s cloud business is benefiting from AI demand and stronger-than-expected growth, helping reinforce the bullish valuation case. Article: Is Amazon.com One Of The Best Cloud Stocks To Buy As Azure Growth Hits 40%?
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to frame Amazon as an underappreciated AI winner, with bullish notes on AWS, Trainium chips, and enterprise partnerships suggesting durable upside from cloud monetization. Article: Amazon Stock Falls despite Surge in Trainium AI Chip Demand
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Douglas Herrington sold shares in a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, and another executive sale from Matthew Garman also drew attention, but these transactions do not appear to signal a change in Amazon’s operating outlook. SEC filing for Douglas J. Herrington sale
• Neutral Sentiment: Amazon also won an appeals-court case over allegations it helped with tariff evasion, removing a legal overhang and reducing near-term uncertainty. Article: Amazon.com defeats appeal claiming it aided tariff evasion
• Negative Sentiment: Offsetting the positive headlines, Amazon is still facing a class-action lawsuit tied to tariff-related pricing, which could create legal and reputational noise for investors. Article: Amazon Lawsuit Adds New Risk Layer To Valuation And Share Momentum

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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