Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Acquires 122 Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,193 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings in Alibaba Group were worth $271,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans bought a new stake in shares of Alibaba Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $321,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Alibaba Group by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,338 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $460,000 after buying an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 7,734.1% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 269,805 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $28,632,000 after buying an additional 266,361 shares during the period. Nwam LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alibaba Group during the third quarter worth $307,000. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alibaba Group by 60.1% in the third quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,496 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $689,000 after acquiring an additional 2,438 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BABA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Benchmark boosted their price objective on Alibaba Group from $118.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Arete Research raised shares of Alibaba Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Alibaba Group from $117.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Alibaba Group from $125.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $144.07.

Alibaba Group Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:BABA opened at $132.65 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $118.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.64. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has a fifty-two week low of $68.36 and a fifty-two week high of $148.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $315.17 billion, a PE ratio of 19.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.28.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The specialty retailer reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.84 by ($0.07). Alibaba Group had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 12.89%. The company had revenue of $38.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.19 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alibaba Group Company 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.