Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $365.00 price objective (up from $330.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Benchmark upped their price objective on Amazon.com from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Wedbush boosted their target price on Amazon.com from $293.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. China Renaissance boosted their price objective on shares of Amazon.com from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, New Street Research raised their price objective on Amazon.com from $280.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifty-six have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $322.56.

Amazon.com Stock Performance

Shares of AMZN stock opened at $272.65 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $2.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.45. Amazon.com has a one year low of $196.00 and a one year high of $287.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $246.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $236.97.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $5.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $3.93. Amazon.com had a net margin of 17.44% and a return on equity of 18.00%. The company had revenue of $200.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $197.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 19.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Amazon.com will post 8.05 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Amazon.com news, CEO Douglas J. Herrington sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.39, for a total transaction of $278,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 483,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $134,609,081.53. This trade represents a 0.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 9,270 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,060,750.70. This 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 77,867 shares of company stock worth $20,532,092. 8.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Amazon.com

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Amazon.com during the second quarter valued at approximately $21,687,000. SFE Investment Counsel purchased a new stake in Amazon.com during the 2nd quarter worth $19,383,000. Alesco Advisors LLC An ESL Co acquired a new stake in Amazon.com in the 2nd quarter valued at $5,100,000. Bank Hapoalim BM purchased a new position in Amazon.com in the second quarter valued at about $20,761,000. Finally, BIP Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amazon.com during the second quarter worth about $12,854,000. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Amazon.com News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: AWS and AI demand remain the main bullish catalysts. Amazon is raising its 2026 capital-expenditure forecast to approximately $220 billion, reflecting strong demand for data-center capacity and higher memory-chip prices. AWS management has indicated that much of its capacity is committed through 2028, supporting expectations for continued cloud growth and AI-related revenue. Amazon’s 2026 Capital Expenditures
• Positive Sentiment: Zoox is approaching commercial operations. Amazon’s autonomous-vehicle unit plans to begin paid robotaxi rides in Las Vegas on August 10, following federal approval for driverless vehicles. The rollout provides a potential long-term growth avenue outside e-commerce, advertising and AWS. Zoox Paid Robotaxi Launch
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent earnings remain exceptionally strong, but reported profit included a sizable investment gain. Amazon posted $200.6 billion in quarterly revenue, up 19.6% year over year, and adjusted earnings of $5.75 per share versus a $1.82 consensus estimate. However, approximately $53.4 billion of net income came from largely non-operating gains tied to Anthropic investments, making underlying profitability more difficult to assess.
• Negative Sentiment: Spending and margin concerns are resurfacing. Higher memory costs and the $220 billion capex plan could pressure free cash flow and raise questions about the returns on Amazon’s AI infrastructure investment. The spending increase also benefited suppliers such as memory-chip and data-center equipment companies, highlighting the scale of Amazon’s costs.
• Negative Sentiment: Share-supply and analyst concerns are adding pressure. Founder Jeff Bezos plans to sell roughly 15 million AMZN shares worth about $4.1 billion under a pre-arranged plan. CEO Douglas Herrington separately sold 1,000 shares under a Rule 10b5-1 plan. Phillip Securities downgraded Amazon to “Moderate Buy,” contributing to profit-taking after the stock’s recent advance. Amazon CEO Share Sale
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risks persist. New Jersey sued Amazon over alleged anticompetitive treatment of delivery contractors, while an appeals court allowed Perplexity’s AI shopping agents to access Amazon’s platform, potentially challenging control of the company’s marketplace.

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.