Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Stock Price Down 0.3% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) dropped 0.3% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $114.76 and last traded at $117.95. Approximately 18,338,060 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 23% from the average daily volume of 23,799,439 shares. The stock had previously closed at $118.33.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BABA. StockNews.com lowered shares of Alibaba Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $92.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $88.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Alibaba Group from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Alibaba Group from $137.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.86.

Alibaba Group Stock Up 0.6 %

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 company has a market capitalization of $283.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.31. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $90.50.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $236.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $239.45 billion. Alibaba Group had a return on equity of 12.28% and a net margin of 8.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.82 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.86 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Alibaba Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alibaba Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $585,479,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Alibaba Group by 1,392.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,125,542 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $650,043,000 after purchasing an additional 5,715,155 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Alibaba Group by 3,180.1% during 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 worth $409,385,000 after purchasing an additional 3,740,150 shares during the period. Hhlr Advisors LTD. boosted its position in shares of 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 boosted its position in shares of 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

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.