Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Stock Price Down 0.3% – Time to Sell?

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) shares traded down 0.3% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $114.76 and last traded at $117.95. 18,338,060 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 23% from the average session volume of 23,799,439 shares. The stock had previously closed at $118.33.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on BABA. Barclays reduced their price objective on Alibaba Group from $137.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price target on shares of Alibaba Group in a report on Friday, November 15th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $88.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Alibaba Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $115.86.

Alibaba Group Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.02. The company has a market capitalization of $296.71 billion, a PE ratio of 25.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.31.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 15th. The specialty retailer reported $15.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $13.19. Alibaba Group had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 12.28%. The company had revenue of $236.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $239.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.82 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Alibaba Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Alibaba Group by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 18,460,434 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,959,021,000 after purchasing an additional 60,667 shares in the last quarter. Appaloosa LP lifted its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Appaloosa LP now owns 11,843,158 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,004,181,000 after buying an additional 1,843,158 shares during the period. Hhlr Advisors LTD. lifted its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 64.1% during the third quarter. Hhlr Advisors LTD. now owns 8,827,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $936,785,000 after buying an additional 3,448,152 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alibaba Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $585,479,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 1,392.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,125,542 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $650,043,000 after purchasing an additional 5,715,155 shares during the period. 13.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alibaba Group Company Profile

Alibaba Group Holding Limited, through its subsidiaries, provides technology infrastructure and marketing reach to help merchants, brands, retailers, and other businesses to engage with their users and customers in the People's Republic of China and internationally. The company operates through seven segments: China Commerce, International Commerce, Local Consumer Services, Cainiao, Cloud, Digital Media and Entertainment, and Innovation Initiatives and Others.