Meritage Portfolio Management Trims Stock Position in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA)

Meritage Portfolio Management reduced its position in shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 190,988 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 1,544 shares during the period. Alibaba Group comprises about 1.2% of Meritage Portfolio Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Alibaba Group were worth $20,268,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BABA. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in Alibaba Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $529,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 8,279 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $599,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Alibaba Group by 10.1% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 31,884 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,307,000 after purchasing an additional 2,929 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alibaba Group by 123.1% in the first quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,158 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $518,000 after purchasing an additional 3,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alibaba Group in the first quarter worth about $190,000. 13.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BABA. Macquarie raised shares of Alibaba Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Alibaba Group from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Alibaba Group from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Barclays boosted their target price on Alibaba Group from $107.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Alibaba Group from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alibaba Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $113.13.

Alibaba Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BABA traded down $5.95 during trading on Friday, reaching $94.19. 24,879,795 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,538,736. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has a 12-month low of $66.63 and a 12-month high of $117.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $225.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.66, a PEG ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 0.35. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $97.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.97.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The specialty retailer reported $16.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $14.57. The company had revenue of $243.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $248.32 billion. Alibaba Group had a return on equity of 12.08% and a net margin of 7.31%. Alibaba Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.47 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 8.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.