Gallagher Capital Advisors LLC Buys New Position in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA)

Gallagher Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 3,476 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $295,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Alibaba Group by 0.3% during the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 18,460,434 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,959,021,000 after acquiring an additional 60,667 shares during the period. Hhlr Advisors LTD. grew its position in 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. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,093,828 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $431,906,000 after acquiring an additional 78,757 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 3,180.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,857,760 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $409,385,000 after purchasing an additional 3,740,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alibaba Group by 454.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,611,571 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $383,260,000 after purchasing an additional 2,959,954 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BABA. Morgan Stanley raised Alibaba Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $100.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $92.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Alibaba Group from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Barclays raised their target price on Alibaba Group from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Arete Research raised shares of Alibaba Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $144.07.

Alibaba Group Stock Performance

Shares of BABA stock opened at $140.59 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.48. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has a fifty-two week low of $68.36 and a fifty-two week high of $145.36. The company has a market capitalization of $334.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.32, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $105.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $96.90.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The specialty retailer reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by ($0.07). Alibaba Group had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 12.89%. The firm had revenue of $38.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.19 billion. Analysts expect that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.86 earnings per share for the current 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.