Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $119.81 and last traded at $118.35, with a volume of 43876099 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $112.78.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BABA shares. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price target on shares of Alibaba Group in a report on Friday, November 15th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Alibaba Group from $88.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Alibaba Group from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays reduced their target price on Alibaba Group from $137.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Alibaba Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $115.86.

Alibaba Group Trading Up 4.9 %

The company has a market capitalization of $281.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.31. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $89.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $90.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 15th. The specialty retailer reported $15.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $13.19. The business had revenue of $236.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $239.45 billion. Alibaba Group had a return on equity of 12.28% and a net margin of 8.98%. Alibaba Group’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.82 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Alibaba Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BABA. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alibaba Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $585,479,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Alibaba Group by 1,392.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,125,542 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $650,043,000 after acquiring an additional 5,715,155 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Alibaba Group by 3,180.1% in 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 period. Hhlr Advisors LTD. grew its position in Alibaba Group by 64.1% in 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 period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in Alibaba Group by 454.2% in 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 period. 13.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.