Van ECK Associates Corp Cuts Stock Position in Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Key Points

• Van ECK Associates cut its Amazon position by 6.5% in the second quarter, selling 75,832 shares and retaining 1.10 million shares valued at approximately $261.4 million. Institutional investors collectively own 72.2% of Amazon.
• Amazon insiders also sold shares, including CEO Matthew Garman and SVP David Zapolsky, with insiders selling 71,589 shares worth about $18.6 million over the last quarter under pre-arranged trading plans.
• Despite the selling, analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $321.19. Amazon’s latest results exceeded expectations, supported by 19.6% year-over-year revenue growth and strong AWS and AI infrastructure prospects, though investors remain concerned about elevated AI spending and execution risks.

Van ECK Associates Corp decreased its position in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,096,656 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock after selling 75,832 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp's holdings in Amazon.com were worth $261,377,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AMZN. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in Amazon.com in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new stake in Amazon.com in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in Amazon.com during the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Amazon.com by 87.7% during the 4th quarter. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. now owns 229 shares of the e-commerce giant's stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Amazon.com during the 4th quarter worth $68,000. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Amazon.com

In related news, SVP David Zapolsky sold 9,258 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.77, for a total value of $2,404,950.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 41,190 shares in the company, valued at $10,699,926.30. The trade was a 18.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 14,541 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.06, for a total value of $3,766,991.46. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 17,794 shares in the company, valued at $4,609,713.64. This trade represents a 44.97% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 71,589 shares of company stock worth $18,568,785. 8.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Amazon.com

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

• Positive Sentiment: AWS and AI infrastructure remain the central bullish case. Analysts and commentators argue that Amazon’s roughly $200 billion 2026 capital-expenditure plan reflects substantial demand for AWS computing, custom chips and AI capacity. Amazon is also reportedly preparing to receive approximately $2.4 billion in backup-generator orders from Generac in 2027 and 2028, underscoring the scale of its data-center expansion. Amazon AI capital expenditures article Generac data-center orders article
• Positive Sentiment: Expansion of merchant services could broaden revenue beyond Amazon.com. New tools let sellers manage listings, inventory and orders across channels including Walmart, Shopify, TikTok and eBay. Amazon is also extending Prime delivery and fulfillment services to merchants’ own websites, potentially increasing third-party logistics revenue and seller dependence on its ecosystem. Amazon merchant services article
• Neutral Sentiment: Anthropic remains strategically important, but its infrastructure is becoming more diversified. Anthropic committed about $11.6 billion to an Akamai CPU agreement, which can be viewed as a setback for AWS. However, Amazon retains a major equity stake and an ongoing AWS relationship, limiting the immediate financial impact. Anthropic Akamai agreement article
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that AI spending may outpace monetization. Goldman Sachs estimates hyperscalers may need roughly $300 billion in additional AI revenue to justify their investments, while Michael Burry and Jefferies’ Chris Wood have warned of leverage, overcapacity and potential write-offs. Those concerns could pressure AMZN’s valuation despite strong AWS demand. Goldman Sachs AI spending article
• Negative Sentiment: Amazon’s $3 billion India quick-commerce investment adds near-term cost and execution risk while the company attempts to catch rivals with a relatively small market share. The decision to block Meta’s Muse shopping agent also risks diverting AI-driven purchases toward Shopify and other platforms. Amazon India investment article

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AMZN. Mizuho set a $330.00 price target on Amazon.com and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. HSBC restated a "buy" rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $375.00 target price (up from $335.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Evercore set a $355.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Amazon.com from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Fifty-six equities research 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, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $321.19.

Amazon.com Price Performance

AMZN stock opened at $249.67 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.44. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 12 month low of $196.00 and a 12 month high of $287.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $256.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $247.20.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $5.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarterly 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 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amazon.com Profile

Amazon.com, Inc is a global technology and e-commerce company that operates online marketplaces and provides a broad range of consumer products and services. Its retail business sells merchandise directly to customers and enables third-party sellers to offer products through Amazon's websites and applications. The company also operates physical stores and provides services such as digital content, subscriptions, and consumer devices, including Kindle and Echo products.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides cloud computing, storage, database, analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other technology services to businesses, governments, and organizations.

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