Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Position in Alibaba Group Holding Limited $BABA

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its holdings in Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) by 9.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 543,026 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 54,536 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Alibaba Group were worth $79,585,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BABA. ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alibaba Group in the third quarter worth approximately $37,565,000. Great Hill Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Alibaba Group in the third quarter worth approximately $2,207,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 54,235 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $7,950,000 after buying an additional 5,760 shares in the last quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 14.3% in the third quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 553,384 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $98,906,000 after buying an additional 69,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 61.9% in the fourth quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 50,123 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $7,347,000 after buying an additional 19,169 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BABA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price 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. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Zacks Research downgraded Alibaba Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Erste Group Bank downgraded Alibaba Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded Alibaba Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, March 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alibaba Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $188.76.

Alibaba Group Stock Performance

BABA stock opened at $124.27 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $298.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.50. Alibaba Group Holding Limited has a 1 year low of $103.71 and a 1 year high of $192.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $130.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $146.52.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The specialty retailer reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts forecast that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Alibaba Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be paid a $1.05 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 72.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. Alibaba Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.91%.

Key Alibaba Group News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Alibaba’s ecosystem is showing continued progress in AI and digital infrastructure, including reports that its Qwen model beat OpenAI and Google rivals in a coding ranking, and that the company is pushing new AI agent and embodied-AI initiatives. These headlines support the view that Alibaba is becoming a more credible AI platform play. Alibaba’s Qwen Beats OpenAI, Google in AI Coding Rank
• Positive Sentiment: Ant Group, Alibaba’s affiliate, is expanding blockchain-based lending tools and showcasing smart city and digital finance applications in Macau, highlighting additional growth avenues across fintech and cloud services. Exclusive: Ant Group-backed R25 launches emerging-market consumer credit vault
• Neutral Sentiment: Broker coverage remains constructive, with Alibaba reportedly holding a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating, which can help support sentiment but does not by itself change the investment thesis. Alibaba Group Holding Limited Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks articles note that BABA is trending with investors, suggesting elevated attention ahead of potential catalysts, though the coverage is more observational than fundamental. Here is What to Know Beyond Why Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA) is a Trending Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary says Alibaba is underperforming despite the broader AI boom, with investors concerned about costly cloud spending and margin pressure versus peers like Meta. That can weigh on the stock if sentiment shifts back toward profitability over growth. BABA vs. META: Which AI Data Center Giant Is the Better Bet?
• Negative Sentiment: One market note also highlighted that Alibaba shares have lagged other major Chinese tech names this year, reflecting ongoing skepticism around Chinese internet stocks despite AI enthusiasm. Here’s why Alibaba, Tencent, Xiaomi stocks are falling amid the AI boom

Alibaba Group Company 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.