ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC Makes New $922,000 Investment in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA)

ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC purchased a new stake in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 11,900 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $922,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 11,473,618 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 461.2% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,215,884 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $365,686,000 after buying an additional 3,464,723 shares in the last quarter. Blue Pool Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Alibaba Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $151,726,000. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Alibaba Group by 13.8% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,610,078 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,007,058,000 after buying an additional 1,406,491 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Alibaba Group by 65.6% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,508,392 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $304,318,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389,233 shares during the period. 13.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Alibaba Group in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $126.00 to $124.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Macquarie downgraded Alibaba Group from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $88.50 to $85.40 in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Alibaba Group from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Alibaba Group from $138.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.91.

Alibaba Group Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of BABA stock traded up $1.00 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $81.33. 19,355,807 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,275,838. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $206.37 billion, a PE ratio of 15.01 and a beta of 0.44. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has a 12 month low of $66.63 and a 12 month high of $102.50.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The specialty retailer reported $18.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $19.12 by ($0.15). Alibaba Group had a return on equity of 12.65% and a net margin of 10.75%. The firm had revenue of $260.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $260.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.54 EPS for the current 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.