Traders Purchase High Volume of Alibaba Group Call Options (NYSE:BABA)

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 272,236 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 26% compared to the average volume of 216,456 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on BABA. Macquarie raised shares of Alibaba Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $107.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Alibaba Group from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of Alibaba Group in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.53.

Alibaba Group Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of Alibaba Group stock traded down $2.81 on Friday, hitting $87.77. The stock had a trading volume of 10,394,267 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,593,230. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $98.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.47. Alibaba Group has a one year low of $66.63 and a one year high of $117.82. The stock has a market cap of $210.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.98, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The specialty retailer reported $16.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $14.57. The business had revenue of $243.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $248.32 billion. Alibaba Group had a return on equity of 12.08% and a net margin of 7.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.47 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alibaba Group will post 8.51 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alibaba Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in Alibaba Group by 8.3% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 8,279 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $599,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in Alibaba Group by 12.2% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 30,414 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,201,000 after acquiring an additional 3,305 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in Alibaba Group by 1.5% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 87,022 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $6,297,000 after acquiring an additional 1,269 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Alibaba Group by 53.2% in the first quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 28,517 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,063,000 after purchasing an additional 9,899 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GM Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Alibaba Group in the first quarter worth about $307,000. 13.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.