Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Stock Price Down 1.5% – Should You Sell?

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA)’s stock price fell 1.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as low as $98.80 and last traded at $99.4550. Approximately 6,731,025 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 41% from the average daily volume of 11,402,097 shares. The stock had previously closed at $100.96.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on BABA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Alibaba Group from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $192.00 price objective on shares of Alibaba Group in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Alibaba Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Alibaba Group in a research report on Monday, September 7th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alibaba Group in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.89.

Alibaba Group Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.36. The stock has a market cap of $244.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.47. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $109.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $126.60.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The specialty retailer reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.94 by ($0.68). Alibaba Group had a net margin of 7.00% and a return on equity of 4.79%. The business had revenue of $39.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $14.75 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 5.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Alibaba Group

In other Alibaba Group news, CFO Hong Xu sold 103,046 shares of Alibaba Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.68, for a total transaction of $1,409,669.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 406,450 shares in the company, valued at $5,560,236. The trade was a 20.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Joseph Tsai bought 720,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $14.29 per share, for a total transaction of $10,288,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 114,979,168 shares in the company, valued at $1,643,052,310.72. This represents a 0.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 999,971 shares of company stock worth $13,563,304 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nykredit A S bought a new position in shares of Alibaba Group in the second quarter worth $50,417,000. Pale Fire Capital SE bought a new stake in shares of Alibaba Group during the second quarter valued at about $49,810,000. Candriam S.C.A. raised its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 104.6% during the first quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 564,818 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $70,862,000 after purchasing an additional 288,738 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in Alibaba Group by 63.5% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 573,409 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $71,940,000 after purchasing an additional 222,666 shares during the period. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alibaba Group by 347.6% in the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 249,736 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $30,463,000 after purchasing an additional 193,947 shares during the period. 13.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alibaba Group Company Profile

Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a technology and commerce company founded in 1999 and headquartered in Hangzhou, China. It operates a broad digital ecosystem that connects consumers, merchants, brands and businesses through online marketplaces, technology platforms and related services.

The company’s China commerce businesses include Taobao, a consumer-focused marketplace, and Tmall, which enables brands and retailers to sell directly to consumers. Alibaba also operates 1688, a business-to-business wholesale marketplace.