Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Trading Up 4.2% - What's Next?

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA - Get Free Report) shares shot up 4.2% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $101.46 and last traded at $100.83. 12,959,656 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 25% from the average session volume of 17,353,996 shares. The stock had previously closed at $96.72.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BABA. Macquarie upgraded shares of Alibaba Group from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $145.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Alibaba Group from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com cut Alibaba Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Alibaba Group from $88.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Alibaba Group from $137.00 to $130.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $115.13.

Alibaba Group Trading Up 6.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm's fifty day moving average is $85.93 and its 200-day moving average is $88.52. The firm has a market cap of $244.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.30.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 15th. The specialty retailer reported $15.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.87 by $13.19. The business had revenue of $236.50 billion during 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.82 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Alibaba Group

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alibaba Group by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 52,363 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $3,770,000 after acquiring an additional 5,924 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alibaba Group by 28.4% in the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,633 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $406,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 2.4% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 281,504 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $20,268,000 after buying an additional 6,671 shares during the last quarter. SRN Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alibaba Group by 4.2% during the second quarter. SRN Advisors LLC now owns 23,189 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,670,000 after buying an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in Alibaba Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.