Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Stock Price Down 0.8% After Analyst Downgrade

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) shares were down 0.8% on Wednesday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $114.00 to $113.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alibaba Group traded as low as $77.81 and last traded at $78.73. Approximately 4,368,097 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 17,748,107 shares. The stock had previously closed at $79.37.

BABA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Alibaba Group from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Alibaba Group from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $121.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Alibaba Group from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $150.00 to $135.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.49.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alibaba Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BABA. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,610,078 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,007,058,000 after acquiring an additional 1,406,491 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 322.7% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 15,029,238 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,303,636,000 after buying an additional 11,473,618 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 992,784 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $76,951,000 after acquiring an additional 21,228 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alibaba Group by 299.9% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 82,888 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $6,428,000 after acquiring an additional 62,163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Certuity LLC raised its stake in Alibaba Group by 122.2% in the 3rd quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 113,704 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $9,863,000 after acquiring an additional 62,543 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

Alibaba Group Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.80 and a quick ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $199.42 billion, a PE ratio of 14.53 and a beta of 0.44.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The specialty retailer reported $18.97 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $19.12 by ($0.15). Alibaba Group had a return on equity of 12.65% and a net margin of 10.75%. The business had revenue of $260.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $260.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.44 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal 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.