Stephens Inc. AR Sells 6,196 Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA)

Stephens Inc. AR trimmed its holdings in shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) by 49.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,443 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 6,196 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Alibaba Group were worth $684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BABA. IRON Financial LLC bought a new stake in Alibaba Group during the third quarter worth about $284,000. Financial Advocates Investment Management raised its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 19,998 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,122,000 after purchasing an additional 2,528 shares in the last quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services acquired a new stake in shares of Alibaba Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $478,000. Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV grew its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 38.7% in the third quarter. Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV now owns 25,268 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,681,000 after buying an additional 7,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its holdings in Alibaba Group by 4.4% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 4,878 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $518,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on BABA shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Alibaba Group in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $107.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Alibaba Group from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Alibaba Group from $106.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Macquarie raised Alibaba Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $145.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $113.13.

Alibaba Group Price Performance

NYSE:BABA opened at $99.24 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a current ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market cap of $237.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.35. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has a 52 week low of $66.63 and a 52 week high of $117.82. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $96.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.62.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The specialty retailer reported $16.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $14.57. The company had revenue of $243.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $248.32 billion. Alibaba Group had a net margin of 7.31% and a return on equity of 12.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.47 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 8.08 earnings per share for the current year.

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.