Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Trading 3.8% Higher – Still a Buy?

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA)’s stock price traded up 3.8% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $101.28 and last traded at $99.71. 40,321,714 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 159% from the average session volume of 15,545,454 shares. The stock had previously closed at $96.03.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Alibaba Group from $92.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup boosted their price target 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. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target 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. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $118.00 price target on shares of Alibaba Group in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Alibaba Group from $106.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alibaba Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.13.

Alibaba Group Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $229.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $85.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $88.46.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alibaba Group

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 155,440 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $13,180,000 after purchasing an additional 27,088 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in Alibaba Group by 131.2% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 74,807 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $6,343,000 after acquiring an additional 42,446 shares during the period. Generate Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Alibaba Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $12,656,000. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its position in Alibaba Group by 63.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 28,716 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,047,000 after acquiring an additional 11,192 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in Alibaba Group by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 822,904 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $87,327,000 after acquiring an additional 50,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

About Alibaba Group

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.