KBC Group NV Acquires New Holdings in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA)

KBC Group NV acquired a new stake in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 25,000 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,120,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Alibaba Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,478,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Alibaba Group by 42.6% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 19,830 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,681,000 after purchasing an additional 5,927 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alibaba Group during the 4th quarter worth about $235,000. PFG Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 10,718 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $909,000 after buying an additional 1,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Alibaba Group during the 4th quarter worth about $232,000. 13.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on BABA. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Alibaba Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of 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 restated a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price target on shares of Alibaba Group in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Macquarie upgraded shares of Alibaba Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $145.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $106.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alibaba Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $115.13.

Alibaba Group Stock Performance

Alibaba Group stock opened at $98.65 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $88.76. The company has a market cap of $234.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has a fifty-two week low of $68.36 and a fifty-two week high of $117.82.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 15th. The specialty retailer reported $15.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $13.19. The business had revenue of $236.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $239.45 billion. Alibaba Group had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 12.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.86 EPS 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.