Magellan Asset Management Ltd Buys 56,041 Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA)

Magellan Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) by 23.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 290,857 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 56,041 shares during the quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Alibaba Group were worth $24,243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,815,514 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,128,919,000 after acquiring an additional 142,563 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Alibaba Group by 39.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,034,187 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,127,475,000 after purchasing an additional 3,124,057 shares in the last quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd raised its holdings in Alibaba Group by 3.8% in the first quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 9,563,814 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $977,231,000 after purchasing an additional 352,817 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 18.6% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,443,677 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $964,955,000 after purchasing an additional 1,478,767 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aspex Management HK Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Alibaba Group by 17.3% in the 1st quarter. Aspex Management HK Ltd now owns 7,281,449 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $744,018,000 after buying an additional 1,072,018 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 14.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $127.00 price objective (up previously from $120.00) on shares of Alibaba Group in a research note on Wednesday, November 1st. Citigroup dropped their price target on Alibaba Group from $151.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Monday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Alibaba Group from $150.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Alibaba Group in a report on Friday. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Alibaba Group in a report on Thursday, August 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $131.20.

Alibaba Group Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE BABA traded up $0.54 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $79.00. The company had a trading volume of 10,055,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,381,285. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $84.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.64. The company has a market capitalization of $202.69 billion, a PE ratio of 16.87 and a beta of 0.67. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has a one year low of $74.58 and a one year high of $121.30.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 16th. The specialty retailer reported $15.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $15.28 by $0.35. Alibaba Group had a return on equity of 12.55% and a net margin of 9.45%. The firm had revenue of $224.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $224.48 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alibaba Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a — dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 21st will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 20th.

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.