Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $115.13.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BABA shares. Macquarie upgraded shares of Alibaba Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $145.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Alibaba Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Alibaba Group from $106.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Mizuho upped their target price on Alibaba Group from $92.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Alibaba Group from $88.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BABA. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Alibaba Group by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors now owns 3,123 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $331,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 6.0% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,152 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 14.6% during the second quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,004 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 4.3% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,400 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $361,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in Alibaba Group by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 4,857 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $515,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

Alibaba Group Trading Down 3.8 %

Shares of BABA opened at $80.49 on Monday. Alibaba Group has a 1-year low of $66.63 and a 1-year high of $117.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.54. The stock has a market cap of $191.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.30.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 15th. The specialty retailer reported $15.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $13.19. Alibaba Group had a return on equity of 12.28% and a net margin of 8.98%. The business had revenue of $236.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $239.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.82 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Alibaba Group will post 8.44 EPS 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.