Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Shares Down 4.6% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) traded down 4.6% on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $248.00 and last traded at $250.38. 48,253,163 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 5% from the average session volume of 46,172,777 shares. The stock had previously closed at $262.37.

Key Stories Impacting Amazon.com

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

• Positive Sentiment: AWS growth has reportedly accelerated to its fastest pace in 18 quarters, while Amazon’s custom Trainium chips are being opened to PyTorch developers. Analysts see cloud demand, AI infrastructure, advertising, and retail operating leverage as potential catalysts. Amazon custom AI silicon article
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley named Amazon a top pick and raised its price target to $350 from $335, citing potential upside from AWS, improving retail margins, and operating leverage. Citadel also increased its Amazon stake by 34%, suggesting institutional confidence despite concerns about an AI bubble. Citadel and AI bubble article
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon is gaining share in fresh groceries, and Jefferies believes warehouse automation and the company’s expanding logistics network could support long-term retail margin improvement by reducing labor and delivery costs. Amazon grocery market-share article
• Neutral Sentiment: Amazon will report third-quarter results next week. Investors are likely to focus on AWS growth, the return on investment from AI spending, capital-expenditure guidance, free cash flow, and fourth-quarter expectations. Amazon earnings preview
• Negative Sentiment: Amazon is reportedly spending roughly $200 billion to $220 billion on capital projects this year, while free cash flow has turned sharply negative. Some Nvidia AI servers are allegedly waiting for electricity, raising concerns that infrastructure spending may precede usable capacity and revenue.
• Negative Sentiment: Citadel founder Ken Griffin warned that AI is “almost certainly” in a bubble. Although his fund increased its Amazon position, the comments highlight valuation and return-on-investment risks across AI-linked companies. AI bubble and Citadel holdings article
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive and regulatory risks are also building: Walmart is welcoming AI shopping agents while Amazon has restricted them, Teamsters are seeking delivery-worker protections, and a proposed Senate bill could limit subsidies for large AI-focused data centers.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Amazon.com from $293.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Mizuho set a $330.00 price target on Amazon.com and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $320.00 target price (up from $315.00) on shares of Amazon.com in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Fifty-seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $322.53.

Amazon.com Stock Down 4.6%

The firm has a market cap of $2.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.45. 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $255.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $253.33.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The e-commerce giant reported $5.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $3.93. Amazon.com had a net margin of 17.44% and a return on equity of 18.00%. The business had revenue of $200.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $197.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 19.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Amazon.com, Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Andrew Jassy sold 20,000 shares of Amazon.com stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.01, for a total transaction of $5,180,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,235,766 shares in the company, valued at $579,085,751.66. This trade represents a 0.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 9,258 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.77, for a total value of $2,404,950.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 41,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,699,926.30. The trade was a 18.35% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 71,589 shares of company stock worth $18,580,515 over the last ninety days. 8.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Red Crane Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 2.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. now owns 1,462 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Amazon.com by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,509 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $1,147,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Sfam LLC increased its stake in Amazon.com by 3.4% during 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. Finally, Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Amazon.com by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. now owns 1,206 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $251,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 72.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc is a global technology and e-commerce company founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994. Originally launched as an online bookstore, the company has expanded into a broad digital marketplace offering consumer products across numerous categories, including electronics, household goods, apparel, groceries and other merchandise. Amazon also sells products under its own brands and provides logistics, fulfillment and delivery services that support its retail operations and third-party sellers.

The company’s principal businesses include online and physical retail, Amazon Web Services (AWS), digital advertising, subscription services and consumer technology.