Virtu Financial LLC Sells 47,309 Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA)

Virtu Financial LLC reduced its position in shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) by 79.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,886 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 47,309 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in Alibaba Group were worth $856,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BABA. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,574,711,000 after buying an additional 1,074,175 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Alibaba Group by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 15,848,257 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,228,398,000 after acquiring an additional 819,019 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its position in Alibaba Group by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 10,630,701 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $823,986,000 after purchasing an additional 983,842 shares during the period. H&H International Investment LLC raised its holdings in 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 worth $384,390,000 after purchasing an additional 1,918,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARGA Investment Management LP lifted its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 39.2% in the 1st quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 3,582,005 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $259,194,000 after purchasing an additional 1,009,397 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BABA. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Alibaba Group from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Alibaba Group from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $118.00 target price on shares of Alibaba Group in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $116.00 price target on shares of Alibaba Group in a report on Friday, July 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alibaba Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.61.

Alibaba Group Stock Performance

Alibaba Group stock opened at $88.47 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.48. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has a twelve month low of $66.63 and a twelve month high of $90.46. The company has a market capitalization of $224.49 billion, a PE ratio of 20.62, a P/E/G ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The specialty retailer reported $16.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $14.57. Alibaba Group had a net margin of 7.31% and a return on equity of 12.08%. The firm had revenue of $243.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $248.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.47 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.93 EPS for the current year.

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.