Mariner LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA)

Mariner LLC boosted its holdings in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) by 9.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 77,046 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 6,968 shares during the quarter. Mariner LLC’s holdings in Alibaba Group were worth $6,533,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BABA. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alibaba Group in the fourth quarter valued at $585,479,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alibaba Group by 208.5% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,995,640 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $254,000,000 after purchasing an additional 2,024,640 shares during the last quarter. Appaloosa LP boosted its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Appaloosa LP now owns 11,843,158 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,004,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843,158 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Alibaba Group by 92.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,147,636 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $97,308,000 after buying an additional 552,010 shares during the period. Finally, WT Asset Management Ltd lifted its stake in Alibaba Group by 364.4% in the fourth quarter. WT Asset Management Ltd now owns 634,200 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $53,774,000 after buying an additional 497,623 shares during the last quarter. 13.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $170.00 to $169.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Alibaba Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $125.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Alibaba Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $104.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Alibaba Group from $117.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $150.36.

Alibaba Group Stock Up 2.1 %

BABA stock opened at $109.03 on Friday. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has a 52 week low of $69.12 and a 52 week high of $148.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a market cap of $260.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.24. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $127.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $104.68.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The specialty retailer reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.84 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $38.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.19 billion. Alibaba Group had a return on equity of 12.89% and a net margin of 12.29%. On average, research analysts expect that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 7.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.