Alibaba Group Holding Limited $BABA Shares Bought by Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.

Key Points

• Jupiter Asset Management increased its Alibaba stake by 15.4% in the fourth quarter, buying 11,698 more shares and bringing its total holdings to 87,638 shares worth about $12.85 million.
• Other institutional investors also boosted their positions significantly, including Capital World Investors and Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management, suggesting continued hedge fund interest in BABA.
• Alibaba is drawing attention for its AI progress and Ant Group’s fintech expansion, but some market commentary warns that cloud spending and margin pressure could still weigh on the stock despite a generally Moderate Buy analyst view.

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA - Free Report) by 15.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 87,638 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after acquiring an additional 11,698 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.'s holdings in Alibaba Group were worth $12,846,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Alibaba Group by 1,074.9% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,038,318 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,079,229,000 after acquiring an additional 5,524,354 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Alibaba Group by 7,680.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 6,014,147 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $881,554,000 after purchasing an additional 5,936,847 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alibaba Group by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 5,335,894 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $782,135,000 after purchasing an additional 42,297 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 448,484 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Alibaba Group by 8.9% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,028,659 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $362,582,000 after purchasing an additional 166,134 shares during the last quarter. 13.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Alibaba Group

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BABA. DZ Bank lowered Alibaba Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $135.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, March 20th. 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. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Alibaba Group from $174.00 to $164.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alibaba Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Alibaba Group from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $188.76.

Alibaba Group Stock Performance

Alibaba Group stock opened at $124.27 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $298.13 billion, a price-to-earnings 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 12 month low of $103.71 and a 12 month 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 50-day moving average is $130.81 and its 200-day moving average is $146.52.

Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The specialty retailer reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Alibaba Group had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 4.76%. The firm had revenue of $35.30 billion during the quarter. Equities analysts anticipate that Alibaba Group Holding Limited will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Alibaba Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $1.05 per share. This represents a yield of 72.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. Alibaba Group's dividend payout ratio is 16.91%.

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.

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