Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Rating Reiterated by Benchmark

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by research analysts at Benchmark in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $150.00 price target on the specialty retailer’s stock. Benchmark’s target price suggests a potential upside of 92.48% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. DZ Bank raised shares of Alibaba Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Alibaba Group from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 11th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $127.00 price objective (up previously from $120.00) on shares of Alibaba Group in a research note on Wednesday, November 1st. Truist Financial cut their target price on Alibaba Group from $126.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, HSBC lowered their price target on shares of Alibaba Group from $142.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Monday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alibaba Group has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $131.20.

Alibaba Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BABA traded down $1.18 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $77.93. The stock had a trading volume of 23,461,859 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,315,244. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Alibaba Group has a 1 year low of $74.58 and a 1 year high of $121.30. The company has a market capitalization of $199.95 billion, a PE ratio of 16.76 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.63.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 16th. The specialty retailer reported $15.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $15.28 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $224.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $224.48 billion. Alibaba Group had a net margin of 9.45% and a return on equity of 12.55%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.50 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alibaba Group will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alibaba Group

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BABA. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Alibaba Group by 322.7% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 15,029,238 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,303,636,000 after purchasing an additional 11,473,618 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Alibaba Group by 108,264.6% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,711,488 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $326,945,000 after purchasing an additional 3,708,063 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 461.2% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,215,884 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $365,686,000 after buying an additional 3,464,723 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 39.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,034,187 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,127,475,000 after buying an additional 3,124,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 650.4% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,172,551 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $28,887,000 after buying an additional 1,883,022 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 14.22% 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.