Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Given New $142.00 Price Target at Robert W. Baird

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) had its price objective cut by Robert W. Baird from $147.00 to $142.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on BABA. Arete Research upgraded shares of Alibaba Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Alibaba Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $104.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Alibaba Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Alibaba Group from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Alibaba Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alibaba Group has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $154.21.

Alibaba Group Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:BABA opened at $123.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.48. The company has a market cap of $294.59 billion, a PE ratio of 17.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.24. Alibaba Group has a 52 week low of $71.80 and a 52 week high of $148.43. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $123.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $107.21.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.19 billion. Alibaba Group had a net margin of 12.29% and a return on equity of 12.89%. As a group, research analysts expect that Alibaba Group will post 7.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Alibaba Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a — dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.95 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 12th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.8%. Alibaba Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.16%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 155,440 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $13,180,000 after purchasing an additional 27,088 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Asset Management LLC PA bought a new stake in shares of Alibaba Group during the 4th quarter worth $911,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alibaba Group by 131.2% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 74,807 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $6,343,000 after buying an additional 42,446 shares during the period. Bailard Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alibaba Group by 46.3% during the 4th quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 10,245 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $869,000 after buying an additional 3,242 shares during the period. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alibaba Group by 31.3% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 18,465 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,566,000 after buying an additional 4,397 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

Alibaba Group Company Profile

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.