Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Trading 1.4% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) was up 1.4% on Wednesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $107.00 to $137.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Alibaba Group traded as high as $103.60 and last traded at $103.30. Approximately 4,610,551 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 17,870,131 shares. The stock had previously closed at $101.84.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on BABA. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Alibaba Group from $106.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Loop Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Alibaba Group in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price target on shares of Alibaba Group in a report on Friday, August 16th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Alibaba Group in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.63.

Institutional Trading of Alibaba Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fiduciary Alliance LLC increased its holdings in Alibaba Group by 154.1% in the 1st quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 55,229 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,052,000 after acquiring an additional 33,490 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its holdings in Alibaba Group by 462.5% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 169,220 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $12,275,000 after acquiring an additional 139,134 shares during the last quarter. SRN Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alibaba Group by 76.7% in the 1st quarter. SRN Advisors LLC now owns 22,259 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,611,000 after acquiring an additional 9,663 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alibaba Group by 52,685.7% in the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 11,085 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $813,000 after acquiring an additional 11,064 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in Alibaba Group by 6.5% in 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 last quarter. 13.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alibaba Group Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a current ratio of 1.41. The company has a market capitalization of $259.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.35. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.84.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The specialty retailer reported $16.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $14.57. The firm had revenue of $243.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $248.32 billion. Alibaba Group had a net margin of 7.31% and a return on equity of 12.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.47 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.