Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) Short Interest Down 9.5% in October

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 40,130,000 shares, a decline of 9.5% from the October 15th total of 44,330,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 13,040,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alibaba Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 322.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 11,473,618 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings 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 worth $1,128,919,000 after acquiring an additional 142,563 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 39.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,034,187 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,127,475,000 after purchasing an additional 3,124,057 shares during the period. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd raised its position in Alibaba Group by 3.8% in the 1st 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. Finally, 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 valued at $964,955,000 after buying an additional 1,478,767 shares during the period. 14.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on BABA. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Alibaba Group from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 11th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Alibaba Group from $142.00 to $136.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 10th. StockNews.com began coverage on Alibaba Group in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Barclays decreased their price target on Alibaba Group from $144.00 to $138.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 1st. Finally, HSBC dropped their price objective on Alibaba Group from $142.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Monday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.07.

Alibaba Group Trading Up 3.8 %

Alibaba Group stock opened at $87.07 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $223.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.72 and a beta of 0.67. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $85.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.69. Alibaba Group has a 12 month low of $74.58 and a 12 month high of $121.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

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.