Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Sees Strong Trading Volume on Analyst Upgrade

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) saw an uptick in trading volume on Friday after Benchmark raised their price target on the stock from $118.00 to $190.00. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the stock. 32,159,185 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 11% from the previous session’s volume of 28,848,545 shares.The stock last traded at $143.23 and had previously closed at $135.97.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Alibaba Group from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded Alibaba Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays upped their price target on Alibaba Group from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Mizuho upped their price target on Alibaba Group from $92.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Alibaba Group from $117.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.93.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alibaba Group during the fourth quarter valued at $585,479,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 3,180.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,857,760 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $409,385,000 after acquiring an additional 3,740,150 shares during the last quarter. Hhlr Advisors LTD. boosted its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 64.1% during the third quarter. Hhlr Advisors LTD. now owns 8,827,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $936,785,000 after acquiring an additional 3,448,152 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 454.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,611,571 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $383,260,000 after acquiring an additional 2,959,954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 208.5% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,995,640 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $254,000,000 after acquiring an additional 2,024,640 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

Alibaba Group Trading Up 5.7 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $341.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.31. The business has a 50 day moving average of $95.43 and a 200 day moving average of $92.99.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The specialty retailer reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by ($0.07). Alibaba Group had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 12.29%. The business had revenue of $38.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.19 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.86 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.