Alibaba Group Holding Limited $BABA Shares Bought by Rathbones Group PLC

Rathbones Group PLC grew its position in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) by 8.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,646 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 5,959 shares during the quarter. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Alibaba Group were worth $9,240,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hoey Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Alibaba Group by 95.2% in the first quarter. Hoey Investments Inc. now owns 205 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new position in shares of Alibaba Group in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alibaba Group in the third quarter valued at $37,000. Palladiem LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alibaba Group in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 15,000.0% during the first quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 302 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alibaba Group

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

• Positive Sentiment: Alibaba unveiled Qwen3.8-Max, its largest and most capable Qwen model to date. The model reportedly contains 2.4 trillion parameters and is positioned as competitive with leading global systems, including models from Anthropic. The launch improved sentiment around Alibaba’s ability to compete in the rapidly expanding AI market. Alibaba shares rally after unveiling its most powerful AI model
• Positive Sentiment: Alibaba plans to release Qwen3.8-Max as an open-weight model for developers worldwide. Broader developer adoption could increase demand for Alibaba Cloud services, enterprise AI workloads and related infrastructure, strengthening the company’s long-term AI monetization opportunity. Alibaba’s Qwen3.8-Max intensifies AI battle with U.S. rivals
• Neutral Sentiment: The release intensifies competition among Chinese AI developers, coming shortly after Moonshot AI introduced its larger Kimi K3 model. Alibaba’s claims about benchmark performance may support its narrative, but actual customer adoption, usage and cloud revenue have yet to be demonstrated. Alibaba unveils its most capable AI model
• Negative Sentiment: Open-weight AI may limit direct monetization of the model and could require substantial ongoing spending on computing capacity. The increasingly competitive AI race also raises execution and capital-investment risks, tempering the otherwise positive investor reaction. Alibaba Stock Pops on New AI Model but Here’s the Bad News

Alibaba Group Trading Up 4.1%

BABA stock opened at $127.29 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market cap of $305.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $112.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $132.33. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has a 52 week low of $91.99 and a 52 week high of $192.67.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The specialty retailer reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $35.30 billion for the quarter. Alibaba Group had a return on equity of 4.76% and a net margin of 10.31%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 6.31 EPS for the current year.

Alibaba Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th were given a dividend of $1.05 per share. This represents a yield of 93.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. Alibaba Group’s dividend payout ratio is 16.91%.

Insider Transactions at Alibaba Group

In related news, President J. Michael Evans sold 720,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.95, for a total value of $68,364,000.00. Following the transaction, the president owned 28,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,658,600. This trade represents a 96.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Fan (Fj) Jiang sold 13,579 shares of Alibaba Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.10, for a total transaction of $164,305.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 556,617 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,735,065.70. This trade represents a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 920,303 shares of company stock valued at $70,796,370 in the last three months. 12.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Alibaba Group from $186.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alibaba Group from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on shares of Alibaba Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $209.00 price target on the stock. HSBC set a $170.00 price target on shares of Alibaba Group in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Alibaba Group from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alibaba Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $186.90.

Alibaba Group 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.