Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Shares Down 6.1% – Should You Sell?

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) shares traded down 6.1% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $131.95 and last traded at $132.5320. 17,887,116 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 49% from the average session volume of 12,033,238 shares. The stock had previously closed at $141.12.

Alibaba Group News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple Wall Street firms raised price targets on Alibaba, including Nomura, Morgan Stanley, Mizuho, HSBC, and JPMorgan, signaling continued confidence in the stock’s upside as analysts focus on its cloud and AI growth. Nomura adjusts Alibaba Group price target to $207
• Positive Sentiment: Alibaba shares surged in Hong Kong as the company accelerated its pivot to AI, reinforcing the idea that investors are rewarding the shift toward higher-growth cloud and artificial intelligence businesses. Alibaba shares surge 7% in Hong Kong as firm accelerates pivot to AI
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage highlighted strong AI and cloud momentum, including triple-digit AI revenue growth and a 38% jump in cloud revenue, which supports the bull case that Alibaba’s heavy spending may eventually pay off. Alibaba Earnings: Cloud Acceleration Is A Bullish Catalyst
• Neutral Sentiment: The Trump-Xi summit ended with few concrete breakthroughs, but the absence of escalation is being viewed as a short-term plus for Chinese equities, including Alibaba. Trump-Xi Summit Ends With Few Breakthroughs
• Negative Sentiment: Alibaba’s latest earnings report showed profits under pressure as the company ramped up AI, cloud, and commerce spending, with some analysts warning that margins may stay strained in the near term. BABA Q4 Profit Falls on Heavy Tech Spending

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Alibaba Group from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday. Zacks Research cut shares of Alibaba Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Alibaba Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on shares of Alibaba Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $209.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Arete Research raised shares of Alibaba Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $188.76.

Alibaba Group Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market cap of $317.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $131.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $149.37.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The specialty retailer reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $35.30 billion during the quarter. Alibaba Group had a return on equity of 4.76% and a net margin of 10.31%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 6.67 EPS for the current year.

Alibaba Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a yield of 72.0%. Alibaba Group’s payout ratio is presently 17.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BABA. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,505,165 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $953,527,000 after buying an additional 466,847 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 7,680.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 6,014,147 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $881,554,000 after buying an additional 5,936,847 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,335,894 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $782,135,000 after buying an additional 42,297 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alibaba Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $594,477,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 17.7% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,987,539 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $533,964,000 after buying an additional 448,484 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

About Alibaba Group

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.