Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) by 11.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 49,237 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,089 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alibaba Group were worth $5,225,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alibaba Group by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 8,279 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $599,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in Alibaba Group by 12.2% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 30,414 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,201,000 after buying an additional 3,305 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in shares of Alibaba Group by 1.5% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 87,022 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $6,297,000 after acquiring an additional 1,269 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 53.2% during the first quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 28,517 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,063,000 after acquiring an additional 9,899 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Alibaba Group by 43.2% in the 1st quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 154,504 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $11,180,000 after acquiring an additional 46,646 shares during the period. 13.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BABA. Macquarie upgraded shares of Alibaba Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $145.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America raised their price target on Alibaba Group from $106.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays upped their price objective on Alibaba Group from $107.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $118.00 target price on shares of Alibaba Group in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Alibaba Group from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.53.

Alibaba Group Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of BABA opened at $90.54 on Friday. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has a twelve month low of $66.63 and a twelve month high of $117.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.70, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $97.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.44.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $14.57. The business had revenue of $243.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $248.32 billion. Alibaba Group had a return on equity of 12.08% and a net margin of 7.31%. The company’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.47 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 8.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alibaba Group 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.