It's great to see interest in Alibaba (BABA) within the community. A quick look at Fintel's data provides some interesting insights into institutional sentiment and market activity surrounding the stock.
Institutional Ownership Trends
Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) currently has a substantial institutional presence, with 1,728 institutional owners on record. Of these, 1,670 are long-only positions, while 7 are short-only, and 51 represent long/short strategies.1 While the total number of institutional owners remains high, the latest quarter-over-quarter data indicates a slight decrease of 5.22% in institutional shares held long, totaling 458,478,668 shares (excluding 13D/G filings). The average portfolio allocation to BABA by these institutions also saw a decline of 17.92% in the most recent quarter, with an average allocation of 0.7126%.1 Investors can utilize Fintel's Fund Sentiment Score to identify companies with significant institutional accumulation, which can provide a broader perspective on smart money movements.1
Short Interest Overview
From a short interest perspective, BABA shows 30,370,483 shares currently short, translating to a Short Interest Ratio of 3.47 Days to Cover.2 This ratio indicates how many days it would take for short sellers to cover their positions given the average daily trading volume. Furthermore, off-exchange short volume accounts for a notable portion of trading activity, with 2,697,236 shares and an Off-Exchange Short Volume Ratio of 57.27%.2 This data is updated twice monthly by the NYSE, providing a consistent view of short seller activity.2
Recent Analyst Sentiment
Recent analyst activity in early 2025 has shown a generally positive trend. For instance, in February and March 2025, firms like Bernstein and Morgan Stanley upgraded their outlooks on Alibaba, moving from "Market Perform" or "Equal-Weight" to "Outperform" or "Overweight" across various Alibaba listings.3 The average one-year price target for NYSE:BABA was revised upwards to $157.23 in March 2025.4 This suggests a growing optimism among some analysts regarding the company's future performance.
For a deeper dive into these metrics and to track real-time changes, Fintel's platform offers detailed institutional ownership reports, short interest data, and analyst ratings for BABA.
