Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Trading Up 2.1% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) traded up 2.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $129.02 and last traded at $127.41. 22,173,234 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 12% from the average session volume of 25,200,254 shares. The stock had previously closed at $124.73.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $118.00 price target on shares of Alibaba Group in a research note on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com lowered Alibaba Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Alibaba Group from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Alibaba Group from $88.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Alibaba Group from $92.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $115.86.

Alibaba Group Trading Up 2.0 %

The company has a market cap of $302.53 billion, a PE ratio of 25.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.31. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $91.90 and a 200 day moving average of $91.53.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 15th. The specialty retailer reported $15.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $13.19. The company had revenue of $236.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $239.45 billion. Alibaba Group had a return on equity of 12.28% and a net margin of 8.98%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.82 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Alibaba Group

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vise Technologies Inc. lifted its stake in Alibaba Group by 811.6% in the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 25,644 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,174,000 after purchasing an additional 22,831 shares during the last quarter. JT Stratford LLC lifted its stake in Alibaba Group by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 6,838 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $580,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. lifted its stake in Alibaba Group by 35.0% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 27,000 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,289,000 after purchasing an additional 7,000 shares during the last quarter. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd lifted its stake in Alibaba Group by 279.1% in the fourth quarter. Brown Shipley& Co Ltd now owns 652 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Poehling Capital Management INC. lifted its stake in Alibaba Group by 32.7% in the fourth quarter. Poehling Capital Management INC. now owns 36,526 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,097,000 after purchasing an additional 8,998 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

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.