Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Trading Down 3.1% Following Analyst Downgrade

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) shares traded down 3.1% during trading on Tuesday after Susquehanna lowered their price target on the stock from $135.00 to $130.00. Susquehanna currently has a positive rating on the stock. Alibaba Group traded as low as $81.00 and last traded at $81.34. 5,572,317 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 16,629,635 shares. The stock had previously closed at $83.91.

Several other analysts have also commented on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Alibaba Group from $124.00 to $122.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $109.00 to $107.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 target price on shares of Alibaba Group in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $116.00 target price on shares of Alibaba Group in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $95.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $107.32.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alibaba Group

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its position in Alibaba Group by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 21,870,987 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,574,711,000 after purchasing an additional 1,074,175 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC grew its position in Alibaba Group by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 15,848,257 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,228,398,000 after purchasing an additional 819,019 shares during the period. FIL Ltd grew its position in Alibaba Group by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 10,630,701 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $823,986,000 after purchasing an additional 983,842 shares during the period. H&H International Investment LLC grew its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 63.1% during the 4th quarter. H&H International Investment LLC now owns 4,959,230 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $384,390,000 after acquiring an additional 1,918,730 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alibaba Group during the 4th quarter valued at $329,367,000. Institutional investors own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

Alibaba Group Stock Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $76.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 1.79. The stock has a market cap of $206.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 0.32.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Alibaba Group had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 12.70%. The firm had revenue of $243.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $248.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.47 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 6.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.