American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 448,484 Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited $BABA

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) by 17.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,987,539 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 448,484 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Alibaba Group worth $533,964,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in Alibaba Group by 0.7% in the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 20,764,276 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,354,877,000 after purchasing an additional 140,579 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Alibaba Group by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,267,441 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $597,381,000 after buying an additional 390,883 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alibaba Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $527,243,000. Discerene Group LP raised its stake in Alibaba Group by 0.6% in the second quarter. Discerene Group LP now owns 2,985,487 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $338,584,000 after buying an additional 18,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alibaba Group in the second quarter worth about $184,291,000. 13.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alibaba Group Stock Down 2.7%

BABA stock opened at $144.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $159.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $157.30. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has a 12 month low of $95.73 and a 12 month high of $192.67. The company has a market cap of $343.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.39.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 25th. The specialty retailer reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.05). Alibaba Group had a net margin of 12.38% and a return on equity of 10.51%. The company had revenue of $34.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.15 earnings per share. Alibaba Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Key Alibaba Group News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alibaba Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alibaba Cloud deployed tech for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics, highlighting enterprise demand and a sustainability/efficiency story that supports cloud revenue growth. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary notes Alibaba’s AI push (Qwen 3.5) and positioning as an Asian cloud/AI infrastructure player; that narrative is a key medium-term catalyst ahead of the March 5 fiscal Q3 earnings report. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/retail attention is rising — Benzinga and Zacks flagged Alibaba among oversold/monitored consumer/tech names, indicating potential buying interest if earnings or AI/cloud execution surprises to the upside. Read More. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alibaba introduced bundled pricing for multiple AI models under one plan — a competitive move that may boost adoption but could pressure near-term pricing/ARPU; impact depends on uptake and margin mix. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent analyst pieces reassessing valuation note an 11% one‑month slide and attractive longer‑term multiples (P/E ~20), making BABA a value/earnings play but keeping focus on near‑term execution. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Political/legal uncertainty is still driving volatility: the Supreme Court ruling removed the worst‑case IEEPA tariff risk but headlines about a possible “Plan B” (e.g., a 15% global tariff) have triggered a whipsaw — investors appear to be trimming positions into earnings, driving today’s weakness.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BABA. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Alibaba Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Freedom Capital lowered Alibaba Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Alibaba Group from $218.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Alibaba Group from $231.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on Alibaba Group from $200.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $195.17.

Alibaba Group Company 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.