Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA - Get Free Report) shares gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after Benchmark raised their price target on the stock from $118.00 to $190.00. The stock had previously closed at $125.79, but opened at $137.81. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alibaba Group shares last traded at $139.63, with a volume of 51,119,766 shares trading hands.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on BABA. Barclays upped their target price on Alibaba Group from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Mizuho upped their price objective on Alibaba Group from $92.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. StockNews.com raised Alibaba Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Alibaba Group from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alibaba Group has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $131.93.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alibaba Group

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alibaba Group during the 4th quarter worth about $337,000. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 89,409.6% during the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 562,120 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $47,662,000 after buying an additional 561,492 shares during the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in Alibaba Group during the fourth quarter worth $10,303,000. Vise Technologies Inc. increased 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 valued at $2,174,000 after acquiring an additional 22,831 shares during the period. Finally, JT Stratford LLC boosted its holdings in Alibaba Group by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 6,838 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $580,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. 13.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alibaba Group Trading Up 5.7 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $94.31 and a 200 day moving average of $92.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $341.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.31.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The specialty retailer reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.84 by ($0.07). Alibaba Group had a return on equity of 12.28% and a net margin of 8.98%. The firm had revenue of $38.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.19 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.86 EPS for the current year.

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.