Short Interest in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) Declines By 14.3%

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA - Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 37,520,000 shares, a drop of 14.3% from the December 31st total of 43,800,000 shares. Approximately 1.6% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 15,450,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BABA shares. Citigroup lifted their target price 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. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Alibaba Group from $106.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Alibaba Group from $88.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and set a $118.00 price target on shares of Alibaba Group in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Alibaba Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $115.13.

Alibaba Group Price Performance

Shares of Alibaba Group stock traded down $0.16 during trading on Monday, hitting $98.68. 29,216,319 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,567,572. 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 price is $86.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.92. Alibaba Group has a twelve month low of $68.36 and a twelve month high of $117.82. The company has a market cap of $234.72 billion, a PE ratio of 20.02, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.31.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $13.19. Alibaba Group had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 12.28%. The business had revenue of $236.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $239.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.82 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Alibaba Group will post 7.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Alibaba Group

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BABA. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its position in Alibaba Group by 0.3% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 18,460,434 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $1,959,021,000 after buying an additional 60,667 shares in the last quarter. Hhlr Advisors LTD. increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 3,448,152 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Alibaba Group by 1,392.6% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Alibaba Group by 3,180.1% during the 3rd 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 buying an additional 3,740,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in 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 last quarter. 13.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.