Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) Trading 3% Higher – Still a Buy?

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) shares traded up 3% on Friday . The company traded as high as $136.20 and last traded at $135.6870. 9,227,717 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 23% from the average session volume of 11,926,419 shares. The stock had previously closed at $131.70.

Trending Headlines about Alibaba Group

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

• Positive Sentiment: Alibaba launched commercial Qwen integrations — first with China Eastern for natural-language flight search/booking and with other partners — demonstrating early consumer-facing revenue pathways for Qwen and strengthening monetization prospects. Alibaba’s Qwen AI Partnerships Highlight New Use Cases And Valuation Gap
• Positive Sentiment: Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen models became accessible to autonomous on‑chain AI agents via a 0G Foundation collaboration, opening new enterprise and Web3 distribution channels that could expand addressable market for cloud/AI services. 0G to Make Alibaba’s Qwen wModels Accessible to AI Agents via Blockchain Integration
• Positive Sentiment: Qwen is being integrated into Chinese automakers (Beijing auto show) to enable voice-driven bookings, payments and in‑car services — another route to capture recurring usage and data for upsell across travel, commerce and ads. Alibaba’s Qwen AI is coming to cars, allowing drivers order food and book hotels by voice
• Positive Sentiment: Reports say Alibaba is in talks with Tencent and others about investing in Chinese AI startup DeepSeek — a deal could accelerate R&D access and strategic positioning in China’s AI ecosystem. That potential stake signals proactive M&A/investment strategy to defend market share. China’s DeepSeek Looks to Tap External Investors Including Alibaba, Tencent
• Neutral Sentiment: China’s AI landscape is accelerating: DeepSeek previewed a V4 model and Tencent unveiled model upgrades — these industry developments validate market momentum but also increase competitive pressure on Alibaba’s AI moat. China’s DeepSeek releases preview of long-awaited V4 model as AI race intensifies
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks downgraded BABA from “hold” to “strong sell,” which can pressure sentiment and trigger short-term selling by model-driven funds and retail investors. Zacks.com
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and data‑privacy scrutiny remains a background risk as Alibaba expands AI into commerce, travel and finance — regulators monitoring large platform data use could constrain some monetization paths. Alibaba Weighs DeepSeek AI Stake As Social Commerce Role Expands

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research cut Alibaba Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings cut Alibaba Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Freedom Capital cut Alibaba Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Alibaba Group from $195.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Alibaba Group from $225.00 to $212.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.68.

Alibaba Group Trading Up 3.0%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.33. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $135.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $152.88. The company has a market cap of $324.53 billion, a PE ratio of 25.60, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.50.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) last released its earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The specialty retailer reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter. Alibaba Group had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 9.12%.The company had revenue of $40.71 billion for the quarter. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 4.39 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alibaba Group

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 302 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Bluesphere Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bluesphere Advisors LLC now owns 3,023 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $540,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 34.4% in the 3rd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 254 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,661 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,191,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 16,420 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,407,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.47% of the company’s stock.

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.