Washington Trust Advisors Trims Amazon Stake Amid Mixed Investor Sentiment
Washington Trust Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) by 4.6% during the second quarter, selling 9,549 shares. The institutional investor now holds 198,001 shares, representing 3.5% of its total holdings, making Amazon its sixth-largest position. As of its most recent SEC filing, the value of these shares was $47,192,000.
Several other large investors adjusted their positions in Amazon during the same period. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake worth $22,218,775,000, while Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake valued at $16,341,405,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, now owning 59,604,857 shares worth $13,757,993,000. Legal & General Group Plc and Amundi also boosted their stakes, with the latter increasing its holdings by 14.1% in the first quarter.
Amazon's stock opened at $251.40 on Tuesday, with a market capitalization of $2.71 trillion. The company reported strong earnings for the quarter ending July 30, posting $5.75 earnings per share, surpassing estimates by $3.93. Revenue for the quarter was $200.61 billion, up 19.6% year-over-year. Analysts predict Amazon will post $8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Positive sentiment surrounds Amazon's AI ambitions, including a $1 billion-plus chip deal with Synopsys and the hiring of a former Microsoft Copilot executive to expand AWS's AI capabilities. However, concerns remain about AI infrastructure spending, data-center opposition, and potential margin pressure. Insider sales by CEO Douglas Herrington and CFO Brian Olsavsky also drew attention, though they were executed under pre-arranged trading plans.