Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Shares Up 1.4% – Should You Buy?

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) shot up 1.4% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $126.80 and last traded at $121.18. 27,143,777 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 12% from the average session volume of 24,300,139 shares. The stock had previously closed at $119.54.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BABA. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Alibaba Group from $137.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Alibaba Group from $92.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of 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 shares of Alibaba Group from $88.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Alibaba Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $115.86.

Alibaba Group Trading Up 4.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $91.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $296.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.31.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alibaba Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 521.1% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 260,860 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $22,131,000 after acquiring an additional 218,860 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 7,039 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $597,000 after acquiring an additional 825 shares during the last quarter. Global Frontier Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Alibaba Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,239,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Alibaba Group by 48.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,512,959 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $128,284,000 after purchasing an additional 490,913 shares during the period. Finally, Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alibaba Group by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 6,354 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $539,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the period. 13.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.