Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Alibaba Group from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 19th. 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. Macquarie raised 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 note on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Alibaba Group from $106.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Alibaba Group in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.53.

Alibaba Group Stock Down 2.2 %

Alibaba Group stock opened at $88.57 on Tuesday. Alibaba Group has a fifty-two week low of $66.63 and a fifty-two week high of $117.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $212.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.19, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.35. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $98.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.47.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $14.57. The company had revenue of $243.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $248.32 billion. Alibaba Group had a net margin of 7.31% and a return on equity of 12.08%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.47 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alibaba Group will post 8.51 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alibaba Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BABA. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Alibaba Group by 8.3% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 8,279 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $599,000 after buying an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 123.1% during the 1st quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,158 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $518,000 after purchasing an additional 3,950 shares during the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Alibaba Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $207,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alibaba Group by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,991 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,532,000 after purchasing an additional 3,976 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in Alibaba Group by 12.2% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 30,414 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,201,000 after purchasing an additional 3,305 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

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.