Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) was upgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday. The brokerage currently has a $179.00 price objective on the specialty retailer’s stock. Zacks Investment Research‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 12.23% from the company’s current price.
According to Zacks, “Alibaba Group is a Chinese e-Commerce giant which caters mainly to its native market. The company’s fiscal fourth-quarter results exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate on revenues but lagged the same on earnings. Also, over the last one year, the stock has outperformed the Zacks characterized Electronic Commerce industry. Alibaba’s strong core e-commerce business, its continued efforts to develop new products, international growth opportunities, strong financial positionand and growing cloud computing services are positives. However, macro headwinds, continued investments and increasing competition from Tencent Holdings and Baidu remain the overhangs.”
BABA has been the subject of several other research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited in a research note on Tuesday, May 16th. Barclays PLC boosted their price objective on shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited from $130.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 10th. Bank of America Corporation reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $161.00 price objective (up previously from $144.00) on shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited in a research note on Sunday, June 11th. Jefferies Group LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price objective (up previously from $122.00) on shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited in a research note on Monday, June 12th. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The) reaffirmed a “conviction-buy” rating and set a $142.00 price objective on shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited in a research note on Friday, May 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirty-two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.14.
Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE BABA) traded up 4.33% during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $166.40. 40,764,042 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged. The company has a 50-day moving average of $151.08 and a 200-day moving average of $123.81. The stock has a market cap of $420.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.85 and a beta of 2.64. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has a 52-week low of $86.01 and a 52-week high of $168.00. Alibaba Group Holding Limited also was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 85,508 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 228% compared to the typical volume of 26,062 put options.
Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 17th. The specialty retailer reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.44. The firm had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.16 billion. Alibaba Group Holding Limited had a net margin of 27.51% and a return on equity of 15.40%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post $4.64 earnings per share for the current year.
Alibaba Group Holding Limited declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 18th that allows the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty retailer to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.
ILLEGAL ACTIVITY NOTICE: “Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA) Upgraded to “Buy” by Zacks Investment Research” was originally reported by StockNewsTimes and is the property of of StockNewsTimes. If you are reading this article on another website, it was copied illegally and republished in violation of U.S. and international copyright legislation. The original version of this article can be accessed at https://stocknewstimes.com/2017/08/17/alibaba-group-holding-limited-baba-upgraded-to-buy-by-zacks-investment-research.html.
Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited by 0.9% in the first quarter. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC now owns 2,563 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Ronald Blue & Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited by 0.7% in the second quarter. Ronald Blue & Co. LLC now owns 3,458 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $487,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited by 1.3% in the second quarter. Cornerstone Advisors Inc. now owns 2,259 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $318,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Comerica Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited by 1.9% in the first quarter. Comerica Securities Inc. now owns 2,527 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $272,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, Mosaic Family Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited by 2.9% in the second quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth LLC now owns 1,852 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 36.81% of the company’s stock.
Alibaba Group Holding Limited Company Profile
Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the Company is engaged in online and mobile commerce through offering of products, services and technology that enable merchants, brands and other businesses to transform the way they market, sell and operate in the People’s Republic of China (China) and internationally.
Receive News & Ratings for Alibaba Group Holding Limited Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Alibaba Group Holding Limited and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
