Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Shares Down 2.3% on Analyst Downgrade

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA)’s share price traded down 2.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $137.00 to $130.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Alibaba Group traded as low as $86.96 and last traded at $87.31. 4,777,933 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 17,615,330 shares. The stock had previously closed at $89.35.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on BABA. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Alibaba Group in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Alibaba Group from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Mizuho boosted their price objective 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Alibaba Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Alibaba Group from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.07.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BABA. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its position in Alibaba Group by 5.2% in the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 21,870,987 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,574,711,000 after buying an additional 1,074,175 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC grew 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 worth $1,959,021,000 after buying an additional 60,667 shares during the last quarter. Hhlr Advisors LTD. grew its position in Alibaba Group by 64.1% in the third quarter. Hhlr Advisors LTD. now owns 8,827,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $936,785,000 after buying an additional 3,448,152 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Alibaba Group by 1,392.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 3,740,150 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

Alibaba Group Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $207.76 billion, a PE ratio of 17.60, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $98.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.82.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 15th. The specialty retailer reported $15.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $13.19. Alibaba Group had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $236.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $239.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.82 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 8.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.