Alibaba Group Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:BABA)

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors purchased 453,201 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 88% compared to the typical daily volume of 240,735 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanders Capital LLC increased its holdings in Alibaba Group by 0.3% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 18,460,434 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,959,021,000 after buying an additional 60,667 shares in the last quarter. Hhlr Advisors LTD. increased its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 64.1% during the third quarter. Hhlr Advisors LTD. now owns 8,827,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $936,785,000 after purchasing an additional 3,448,152 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 1,392.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,125,542 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $650,043,000 after purchasing an additional 5,715,155 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 3,180.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,857,760 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $409,385,000 after purchasing an additional 3,740,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 454.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,611,571 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $383,260,000 after purchasing an additional 2,959,954 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

Alibaba Group Trading Up 3.3 %

NYSE BABA opened at $85.16 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $202.93 billion, a PE ratio of 17.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a fifty day moving average of $86.06 and a 200 day moving average of $87.68. Alibaba Group has a 1 year low of $66.63 and a 1 year high of $117.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 15th. The specialty retailer reported $15.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $13.19. The company had revenue of $236.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $239.45 billion. Alibaba Group had a net margin of 8.98% and a return on equity of 12.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.82 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Alibaba Group will post 8.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on BABA. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $92.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $137.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $118.00 target price on shares of Alibaba Group in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Macquarie upgraded shares of Alibaba Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $106.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.13.

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.