Coombe Bender & Co LLC Decreases Stake in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA)

Coombe Bender & Co LLC cut its position in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) by 18.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 16,771 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 3,737 shares during the quarter. Coombe Bender & Co LLC’s holdings in Alibaba Group were worth $1,300,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Alibaba Group by 13.8% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,610,078 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,007,058,000 after purchasing an additional 1,406,491 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 322.7% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Alibaba Group by 299.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Certuity LLC lifted its position in Alibaba Group by 122.2% in the third 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 last quarter. 13.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BABA has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Alibaba Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Alibaba Group from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Macquarie downgraded Alibaba Group from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $88.50 to $85.40 in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Alibaba Group in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Alibaba Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. 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.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.91.

Alibaba Group Stock Performance

NYSE BABA traded up $5.02 on Thursday, hitting $80.53. 19,887,019 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,770,221. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $73.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.21. The firm has a market cap of $204.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.61 and a beta of 0.44. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has a fifty-two week low of $66.63 and a fifty-two week high of $102.50.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The specialty retailer reported $18.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $19.12 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $260.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $260.26 billion. Alibaba Group had a return on equity of 12.65% and a net margin of 10.75%. The company’s revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.44 EPS. On average, research analysts expect 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.