Howard Financial Services LTD. Acquires 3,990 Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN

Howard Financial Services LTD. grew its holdings in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 12.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 36,786 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock after buying an additional 3,990 shares during the quarter. Amazon.com accounts for approximately 0.9% of Howard Financial Services LTD.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Howard Financial Services LTD.’s holdings in Amazon.com were worth $8,768,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AMZN. Red Crane Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Amazon.com by 2.3% during the first quarter. Red Crane Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,663 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,509 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Sfam LLC raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Sfam LLC now owns 1,224 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. now owns 1,206 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $251,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Amazon.com by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. CoreFirst Bank & Trust now owns 3,620 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $754,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.20% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Amazon.com

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

• Positive Sentiment: Institutional buying supports sentiment. Thrive Capital disclosed a roughly $215 million Amazon position, while Baupost Group added 625,100 shares and Dodge & Cox increased its holding by approximately 1.6 million shares. Thrive Capital discloses Amazon stake
• Positive Sentiment: AWS remains the central bullish catalyst. Commentary points to accelerating AWS growth for five consecutive quarters, a substantial backlog and customer demand extending into 2028. Amazon Web Services also became AppFolio’s preferred cloud provider, adding evidence of enterprise demand. AppFolio selects AWS
• Positive Sentiment: New growth opportunities are expanding. Amazon won a Space Force communications contract, while its AI infrastructure spending is helping drive demand for data-center and semiconductor suppliers. Analysts cited in recent coverage remain bullish on both Amazon and Alphabet. Amazon wins Space Force contract
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation remains a debate. Amazon is viewed favorably versus some large-cap peers, but coverage notes that its forward earnings multiple is higher than its trailing multiple. That may reflect expected earnings growth, though it leaves less room for execution disappointments.
• Negative Sentiment: Retail data raised demand concerns. U.S. retail sales fell in July, with online spending declining after Amazon’s summer sales event. Higher fuel and operating costs may also pressure big-box retailers and consumer purchasing power. July retail sales decline
• Negative Sentiment: AI investment brings financial and execution risk. Amazon and other hyperscalers are issuing significant debt to fund infrastructure expansion, increasing concerns about returns on spending and potential pressure on future profits. Amazon’s lack of a dividend may also limit appeal for income-focused investors.
• Negative Sentiment: Twitch backlash adds reputational risk. Twitch’s decision to use livestream content for Amazon AI training, with the feature reportedly enabled automatically, has angered creators and could create privacy, regulatory and user-retention concerns. Twitch AI data-sharing backlash

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on AMZN. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $325.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Friday, July 31st. Arete Research boosted their target price 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, Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 target price on shares of Amazon.com and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifty-six have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amazon.com has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $322.56.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

Amazon.com stock opened at $262.65 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $247.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $238.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.45. Amazon.com, Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.00 and a 12-month high of $287.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $5.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $3.93. The company had revenue of $200.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.03 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 18.00% and a net margin of 17.44%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.68 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 8.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.39, for a total transaction of $278,390.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 483,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $134,609,081.53. The trade was a 0.21% 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 three months, insiders sold 62,650 shares of company stock worth $16,535,457. Corporate insiders own 8.90% of the company’s stock.

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.