Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Shares Up 1.3% – Still a Buy?

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) shares traded up 1.3% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $133.85 and last traded at $134.48. 5,156,452 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 18,999,653 shares. The stock had previously closed at $132.75.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on BABA shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Alibaba Group from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Alibaba Group from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Benchmark upped their price objective on Alibaba Group from $118.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Arete Research upgraded Alibaba Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Alibaba Group from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alibaba Group presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $148.14.

Alibaba Group Stock Down 2.3 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $120.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $102.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The firm has a market cap of $314.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.28.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The specialty retailer reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.84 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $38.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.19 billion. Alibaba Group had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 12.89%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Alibaba Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alibaba Group during the fourth quarter worth $4,881,000. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new position in shares of Alibaba Group during the 4th quarter worth about $289,000. Lighthouse Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alibaba Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $237,000. Fluent Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. Fluent Financial LLC now owns 10,627 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $901,000 after acquiring an additional 1,957 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. boosted its stake in Alibaba Group by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 3,134 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

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.