Alibaba Group Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:BABA)

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders bought 453,201 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 88% compared to the typical volume of 240,735 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BABA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Alibaba Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Mizuho upped 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. Macquarie raised shares of Alibaba Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $145.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Alibaba Group from $137.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $115.13.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alibaba Group

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Alibaba Group by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 348,934 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,123,000 after buying an additional 27,058 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in Alibaba Group by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 13,007 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $937,000 after buying an additional 964 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in Alibaba Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,045,000. XTX Topco Ltd increased its stake in Alibaba Group by 83.5% during the 2nd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 12,885 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $928,000 after buying an additional 5,865 shares during the period. Finally, Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in Alibaba Group by 25.6% during the 2nd quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 21,621 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,557,000 after buying an additional 4,408 shares during the period. 13.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alibaba Group Stock Performance

Shares of BABA stock opened at $85.16 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $86.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.37. Alibaba Group has a one year low of $66.63 and a one year high of $117.82. The firm has a market cap of $202.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.30.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 15th. The specialty retailer reported $15.06 EPS 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 12.28%. The firm had revenue of $236.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $239.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.82 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alibaba Group will post 8.44 EPS 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.