Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Trading 2.9% Higher – Still a Buy?

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) shot up 2.9% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $245.73 and last traded at $244.39. 73,603,799 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 53% from the average session volume of 48,053,941 shares. The stock had previously closed at $237.50.

Trending Headlines about Amazon.com

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America reiterated a Buy rating and $310 price target, arguing that Amazon’s Alexa AI and Prime Day could boost shopping engagement and AI adoption. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon is reportedly exploring selling its Trainium AI chips directly to outside customers, a move that could expand AWS beyond internal use and strengthen its challenge to Nvidia in AI infrastructure. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: AWS added another enterprise win as Zelis selected AWS as its preferred cloud provider and is migrating workloads to Amazon’s cloud, reinforcing AWS demand and AI-services traction. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon also continues to win business partnerships around its AI stack, including expanded integrations and collaborations tied to AWS and Bedrock, which support the view that cloud and AI are still key growth drivers. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Amazon is tightening marketplace presentation rules to give big brands more control over product listings, a change that could improve retailer relationships but is not an immediate earnings catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are still watching an FTC probe into Amazon’s advertising practices, with reports suggesting potential civil penalties could be significant if a case moves forward. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Separate reporting on Amazon worker complaints and regulatory scrutiny adds some headline risk, though these stories appear less immediately stock-moving than the AI and analyst upgrades. Article Title

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMZN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. HSBC upped their target price on shares of Amazon.com from $280.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. DZ Bank upped their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $295.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $325.00 price target (up from $275.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Amazon.com from $280.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective (up from $300.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Fifty-seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $312.78.

Amazon.com Stock Up 2.9%

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $255.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $233.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.44.

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

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In related news, VP Shelley Reynolds sold 2,363 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.38, for a total value of $620,003.94. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 119,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,427,876.40. This trade represents a 1.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $263.42, for a total value of $5,268,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,205,766 shares in the company, valued at $581,042,879.72. This represents a 0.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 195,774 shares of company stock valued at $51,614,434. 8.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amazon.com

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MilWealth Group LLC grew its position in shares of Amazon.com by 79.0% in the fourth quarter. MilWealth Group LLC now owns 179 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new stake in Amazon.com during the 4th quarter worth about $45,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 900.0% in the 4th quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership now owns 200 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 95.6% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 221 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

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.