If you just looked at your brokerage app and saw Amazon's price, you might be a little surprised. Honestly, it’s been a wild ride for anyone holding AMZN lately. As of today, January 14, 2026, how much is a share of stock in amazon?
Right now, a single share is trading around $236.65.
That is a far cry from the $3,000+ prices we used to see back in 2021. If you're wondering why the price dropped so much over the last few years, don't worry—the company didn't collapse. It’s actually because of a massive 20-for-1 stock split that happened back in 2022. Basically, they took every "expensive" share and cut it into 20 smaller, more affordable pieces.
It’s like taking a $100 bill and swapping it for five $20 bills. You still have the same amount of money, but the individual pieces are easier to spend. Or in this case, easier to buy.
What is the current Amazon stock price right now?
Stocks move fast. Like, really fast. While the price sits near $236.65 today, it fluctuates every second the market is open. Just this morning, the stock opened at $241.15 and hit a high of $241.28 before dipping down to a low of $236.22.
It’s actually down about 2.4% today.
If you are checking this on a weekend or late at night, that $236.65 figure is likely the "closing price" from the most recent trading day. You've probably noticed that even after the 2022 split, the price has been steadily climbing back up. In fact, over the last 52 weeks, Amazon has swung between a low of **$161.43** and a high of $258.60.
If you bought at that low, you’d be feeling pretty good right about now.
Why the price changes so much
Investors are constantly playing a game of "what if." They look at things like:
- AWS Growth: Amazon Web Services (the cloud stuff) is basically the company's profit engine.
- AI Integration: Everyone is obsessed with how Amazon is using generative AI for Alexa and logistics.
- Retail Margins: How much it costs to get that brown box to your porch.
- Interest Rates: When the Fed moves rates, tech stocks like Amazon usually react first.
Understanding the Amazon stock split history
You can’t really talk about how much a share costs without looking at the history. Most people remember when Amazon was basically "unbuyable" for a regular person because one share cost more than a used car.
That changed on June 3, 2022.
Amazon executed a 20-for-1 split. If you owned one share worth $2,400 on Friday, you woke up on Monday with 20 shares worth $120 each. It made the stock way more accessible for retail investors—the regular folks like you and me who don't want to drop three grand on a single ticker.
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Before that huge 2022 move, Amazon hadn't split its stock since the late 90s. There were three splits in quick succession during the dot-com boom:
- June 1998: 2-for-1 split.
- January 1999: 3-for-1 split.
- September 1999: 2-for-1 split.
If you had bought just one share at the IPO in 1997 and held it through every single split until today, you would now own 240 shares. At today's price of $236.65, that original $18 investment would be worth over **$56,000**.
Crazy, right?
Is a share of Amazon actually "expensive"?
Price and value are two different things. Just because a share costs $236 doesn't mean it's "cheaper" than a share of something else that costs $500. Analysts look at the P/E Ratio (Price-to-Earnings). Currently, Amazon’s P/E is sitting around 33.4.
For a tech giant, that’s actually somewhat reasonable.
In the past, Amazon’s P/E has been well over 80 or even 100 because they were reinvesting every penny back into the business. Now that they are actually focused on making a profit, the valuation looks a bit more grounded. Experts like those at Zacks Investment Research currently have a "Strong Buy" rating on the stock, with some price targets reaching as high as $360 over the next year.
Of course, not everyone is a bull. Some skeptics argue that the "easy growth" in e-commerce is over and that competition from TikTok Shop or Temu could eat into their retail dominance. But so far, the numbers suggest Amazon is holding its own.
How to buy Amazon stock if you don't have $236
Maybe you have $50 and you want to get in on the action. You don't actually need to buy a full share. Most modern brokerages (think Robinhood, Fidelity, or Charles Schwab) offer fractional shares.
Basically, you tell them, "I want to buy $20 worth of AMZN," and they give you about 0.08 of a share. You still get the same percentage of growth. If the stock goes up 10%, your $20 becomes $22. It’s a great way to "dollar-cost average" into a position without needing a massive bank account.
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Step-by-step to getting your first share:
- Pick a Broker: Use a platform with $0 commissions.
- Fund Your Account: Transfer money from your bank.
- Search for AMZN: That’s the ticker symbol.
- Choose "Market" or "Limit" Order: A market order buys it immediately at the current price. A limit order lets you say, "I only want to buy if the price hits $230."
- Hit Buy: Congratulations, you're an owner.
What should you do next?
If you are serious about investing in Amazon, don't just stare at the daily price. It’ll drive you nuts. Instead, look at the company’s quarterly earnings reports (usually released in February, April, July, and October). These reports tell you if the "cloud" business is growing and how much they are spending on new tech.
Actionable Steps:
- Check your budget: Never invest money you'll need for rent next month.
- Look into ETFs: If buying one stock feels too risky, look at the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLY). Amazon makes up about 21% of that fund, so you get the exposure with less of the individual stock "heartburn."
- Set a Price Alert: Use an app like Yahoo Finance to notify you if the price drops to a level you're comfortable with.
Amazon is a beast of a company. Whether it's worth $236 or $300, the "real" value depends on your own timeline and how much you believe in their ability to dominate the next decade of AI and logistics.