Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 134,578,409 shares, a decrease of 4.4% from the July 14th total of 140,806,372 shares. Currently, 5.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 15,237,310 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 8.8 days.
A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BABA shares. CIBC increased their target price on shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 23rd. J P Morgan Chase & Co started coverage on shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited in a research report on Tuesday, June 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $190.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc. reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $140.00 target price (up from $130.00) on shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited in a research report on Monday, May 22nd. Vetr upgraded shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $173.25 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, SunTrust Banks, Inc. started coverage on shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $175.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $150.14.
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Alibaba Group Holding Limited by 2,538.7% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 56,989,001 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $6,145,123,000 after buying an additional 54,829,289 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited by 2.2% in the second quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,618,382 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,736,830,000 after buying an additional 738,281 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited by 42.5% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,278,081 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,561,681,000 after buying an additional 7,544,165 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited by 3.3% in the first quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 24,415,309 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,657,606,000 after buying an additional 776,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OppenheimerFunds Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited by 10.4% in the first quarter. OppenheimerFunds Inc. now owns 21,635,868 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,332,996,000 after buying an additional 2,030,747 shares in the last quarter. 36.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE BABA) opened at 163.92 on Friday. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has a 52-week low of $86.01 and a 52-week high of $168.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $151.65 and a 200-day moving average of $124.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $414.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.87 and a beta of 2.64.
Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 17th. The specialty retailer reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.44. Alibaba Group Holding Limited had a return on equity of 15.40% and a net margin of 27.51%. The company had revenue of $7.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post $4.65 EPS for the current year.
Alibaba Group Holding Limited declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 18th that allows the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty retailer to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.
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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.
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