Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on BABA. Citigroup lifted their price target on Alibaba Group from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Benchmark raised their price target on shares of Alibaba Group from $118.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Alibaba Group from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Arete Research raised Alibaba Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alibaba Group currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $148.14.

Alibaba Group Stock Performance

BABA opened at $132.49 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $121.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $102.45. The firm has a market cap of $314.80 billion, a PE ratio of 19.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Alibaba Group has a fifty-two week low of $68.36 and a fifty-two week high of $148.43.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The specialty retailer reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $38.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.19 billion. Alibaba Group had a return on equity of 12.89% and a net margin of 12.29%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alibaba Group will post 7.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BABA. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans bought a new position in shares of Alibaba Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $321,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Alibaba Group by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,338 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Alibaba Group by 60.1% in the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,496 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $689,000 after purchasing an additional 2,438 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alibaba Group by 177.4% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,793 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 1,786 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can bought a new stake in shares of Alibaba Group during the third quarter worth $63,929,000. 13.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.