Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) Shares Sold by Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC reduced its stake in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) by 20.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,371 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 1,937 shares during the quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in Alibaba Group were worth $625,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Balentine LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alibaba Group during the fourth quarter worth $225,000. Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 8,575 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $727,000 after acquiring an additional 1,031 shares during the period. Aubrey Capital Management Ltd purchased a new position in Alibaba Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $12,795,000. Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 7,617 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $646,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alibaba Group during the 4th quarter worth about $3,222,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 target price on shares of Alibaba Group in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Alibaba Group from $92.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $88.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Alibaba Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays decreased 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.86.

Alibaba Group Trading Up 4.3 %

NYSE:BABA opened at $124.73 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $90.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $90.70. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has a 12-month low of $68.36 and a 12-month high of $126.80. The firm has a market cap of $296.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.30, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.31.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 15th. The specialty retailer reported $15.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $13.19. Alibaba Group had a return on equity of 12.28% and a net margin of 8.98%. The company had revenue of $236.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $239.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.86 EPS for the current 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.