Baillie Gifford & Co. Acquires 368,760 Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited $BABA

Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) by 99.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 740,365 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 368,760 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co.’s holdings in Alibaba Group were worth $108,523,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 40.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,411 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $289,000 after buying an additional 981 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alibaba Group during the 1st quarter valued at $254,000. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 313.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 21,778 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,470,000 after buying an additional 16,505 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alibaba Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,613,000. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 51.9% during the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 70,060 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $7,946,000 after buying an additional 23,925 shares during the last quarter. 13.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on BABA shares. Susquehanna dropped their price target on Alibaba Group from $190.00 to $170.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Arete Research raised Alibaba Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Freedom Capital lowered Alibaba Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Alibaba Group from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Alibaba Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alibaba Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.89.

Alibaba Group Stock Up 0.5%

BABA opened at $128.02 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $139.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $155.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $305.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.33. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has a one year low of $103.71 and a one year high of $192.67.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The specialty retailer reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $40.71 billion during the quarter. Alibaba Group had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 7.43%. Equities research analysts expect that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alibaba Group Profile

Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a Chinese multinational conglomerate founded in 1999 in Hangzhou, China, by Jack Ma and a group of co‑founders. The company built its business around internet-based commerce and related services and has grown into one of the largest e-commerce and technology companies in the world. Alibaba completed a high‑profile initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014.

The company operates a portfolio of online marketplaces and platforms serving different customer segments: Alibaba.com for global and domestic B2B trade, Taobao for consumer-to-consumer shopping, and Tmall for brand and retailer storefronts targeted at Chinese consumers.