Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN Shares Bought by Manning & Napier Advisors LLC

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 14.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,276,629 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 156,807 shares during the period. Amazon.com comprises about 3.8% of Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $296,855,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMZN. American Capital Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 63.9% during the 3rd quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC now owns 8,081 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $1,774,000 after buying an additional 3,152 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in shares of Amazon.com during the 3rd quarter valued at about $451,642,000. Narwhal Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Narwhal Capital Management now owns 216,606 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $49,997,000 after buying an additional 4,854 shares during the period. Weaver Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 39,264 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $9,063,000 after buying an additional 4,713 shares during the period. Finally, Ethos Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 36,485 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $8,421,000 after buying an additional 3,196 shares during the period. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Arete Research raised their target price on Amazon.com from $301.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. China Renaissance raised their target price on Amazon.com from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, February 6th. Pivotal Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 target price (up from $300.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Amazon.com from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Fifty-seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $312.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 6,370 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 486,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $127,659,819.53. This trade represents a 1.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 9,270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 41,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,060,750.70. This trade represents a 18.37% 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 194,774 shares of company stock worth $51,348,244. 8.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Amazon.com Price Performance

Shares of AMZN opened at $270.64 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.37, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $245.38 and a 200-day moving average of $232.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.01 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.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The e-commerce giant reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $1.15. The company had revenue of $181.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $177.28 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 19.92% and a net margin of 12.22%.The business’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.59 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

Trending Headlines about Amazon.com

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

• Positive Sentiment: Truist raised its price target on Amazon and reiterated a buy rating, signaling confidence that the stock still has room to climb from current levels.
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon’s investment in Anthropic is drawing attention after the AI startup’s valuation surged, with several reports noting that Amazon benefits as Anthropic grows and that the relationship could become an increasingly valuable long-term asset for AWS.
• Positive Sentiment: Snowflake’s $6 billion AWS commitment and strong earnings have highlighted continued enterprise demand for Amazon Web Services, supporting the view that Amazon’s cloud business remains a key growth engine.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple stories emphasized Amazon’s AI momentum, including AWS’s fastest growth in 15 quarters and plans to expand Bedrock with more advanced model offerings, reinforcing expectations that AI will keep driving revenue and margin expansion.
• Positive Sentiment: Prominent investors and commentators, including Cathie Wood and Jim Cramer, were cited as bullish on Amazon, which can help sentiment around the stock. Article: Jim Cramer Explains One of the Reasons “Amazon Stock Has Been Going Ever Higher”
• Neutral Sentiment: Amazon shut down an internal AI leaderboard after employees exaggerated usage scores, a sign the company is trying to control AI spending and improve discipline rather than a direct business setback. Article: Amazon says it shut down a token leaderboard: ‘Don’t use AI just to use AI’
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage around Amazon nearing the $3 trillion market-cap milestone and outperforming since earnings is supportive, but it mostly reflects momentum already built into the stock rather than a new catalyst.
• Negative Sentiment: Australia’s competition regulator sued Amazon’s local unit over children’s backpacks lacking required battery warning labels, adding a regulatory overhang.
• Negative Sentiment: Blue Origin’s rocket explosion created a negative headline for Jeff Bezos’s broader empire, though the direct impact on Amazon is limited.
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary also raised concerns about rising AI capital spending and margin pressure, which could matter if Amazon’s infrastructure buildout accelerates faster than monetization.

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.