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

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors purchased 272,236 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 26% compared to the average volume of 216,456 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Alibaba Group by 6.0% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,152 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $228,000 after buying an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Alibaba Group by 14.6% in the second quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,004 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 4.3% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,400 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $361,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Alibaba Group by 3.0% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 4,857 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $515,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners lifted its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 155.0% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 255 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. 13.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BABA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Alibaba Group from $88.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Alibaba Group from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Alibaba Group in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Alibaba Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Alibaba Group from $107.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.53.

Alibaba Group Stock Performance

Shares of Alibaba Group stock traded down $1.46 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $90.54. The company had a trading volume of 16,867,333 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,633,699. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.41. Alibaba Group has a one year low of $66.63 and a one year high of $117.82. The firm has a market cap of $216.84 billion, a PE ratio of 23.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.35. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.44.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $243.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $248.32 billion. Alibaba Group had a net margin of 7.31% and a return on equity of 12.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.47 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Alibaba Group will post 8.51 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.