Centiva Loads Up BABA with 1.7M Shares Bought

On August 14, 2025, Centiva Capital, LP disclosed a significant purchase of Alibaba(BABA 1.50%), with an estimated transaction value of ~$200.40 million based on the quarterly average price for Q2 2025.

Key points

Centiva bought 1,689,516 shares of Alibaba, an estimated $200.40 million trade based on the average pricing for the quarter ended June 30, 2025.

This move represented a 3.3% increase relative to the fund’s reportable 13F assets under management as of Q2 2025.

Post-trade, Centiva holds 1,697,016 shares valued at $207.51 million as of 2025-08-14.

The new Alibaba stake now accounts for 3.4% of the fund’s equity portfolio as of August 14, 2025, placing it among Centiva’s larger single-name positions.

What happened

According to a filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC filing) on August 13, 2025, Centiva Capital, LP purchased 1,689,516 shares of Alibaba during Q2 2025. The estimated transaction value, calculated using the average closing price for Q2 2025, was approximately $200.40 million. Centiva’s total position in Alibaba reached 1,697,016 shares as of June 30, 2025, after the trade.

What else to know

This filing reflects a new Alibaba buy, now 3.3933% of Centiva’s $6,115,299,626 in reportable 13F assets as of August 14, 2025. (Current position as a percentage of AUM calculated using market value and AUM as of August 14, 2025.)

Top holdings after the filing:

IWM: $982.75 million (16.1% of AUM) as of Q2 2025.

HYG: $390.89 million (6.4% of AUM) as of Q2 2025.

MUB (Call): $292.54 million (4.8% of AUM as of 2025-06-30).

SPY (Call): $238.18 million (3.9% of AUM) as of 2025-06-30.

GLD: $212.65 million (3.5% of AUM) as of Q2 2025.

Alibaba shares were priced at $122.28 as of August 14, 2025, up 53.87% over the past year (252 trading days), outperforming the S&P 500 by 34.26 percentage points during the same period.

Dividend yield (TTM as of 2025-08-14) stands at 1.48%; forward P/E (FY1 2026, as of 2025-08-14) is 1.88; EV/EBITDA (TTM as of 2025-03-31) is 0.59; shares remain 17.62% below the 52-week high (as of 2025-08-14).

Alibaba’s five-year revenue compound annual growth rate is 14.35% as of August 14, 2025.

Company Overview

Company Snapshot

Offers digital retail platforms (Taobao, Tmall), wholesale marketplaces (1688.com, Alibaba.com), logistics (Cainiao), cloud computing, digital media, and local consumer services.

Generates revenue primarily from e-commerce commissions, advertising, cloud services, logistics, and digital entertainment, leveraging a multi-segment platform model.

Serves merchants, brands, retailers, and consumers in China and international markets, targeting both business and individual customers.

Alibaba Group Holding Limited is a leading global technology company with a diversified portfolio spanning e-commerce, cloud computing, logistics, and digital media. The company leverages its extensive technology infrastructure to connect businesses and consumers at scale, maintaining a strong presence in both domestic and international markets.

Foolish take

Alibaba is a complicated stock for investors to consider, both because it’s an internet conglomerate that has many different businesses under its umbrella, including eCommerce, logistics, advertising, cloud infrastructure, and other new businesses, and because it’s based in China. The company itself seems to be doing well, and its pivot to AI is adding to the cash generating machine it’s become, but the geopolitical environment introduces a great deal of uncertainty.

Not only is the US currently in the middle of drawn out tariff negotiations with China, but Alibaba operates under Chinese business regulations, which can be very different from those in less insular countries. It’s more difficult to really know what you’re getting with Alibaba, and how much control the Chinese government will have over the company in the coming years. If the government favors it, it should continue to do extremely well, but if another company becomes a government darling, it may begin to stumble, and investors who are detached from that political environment may not have any way to see it coming.

As for now, though, Alibaba has great income, with low debt, and is making aggressive AI plays that should pay off in the longer term. The business model is very diversified, giving it lots of places to fall back to, should one or more of the divisions under Alibaba fail. Uncertainty about tariffs and government regulation haunt it like a specter, though, and should be considered serious risks when investors are considering this stock.

The stock is up 45.35% year-to-date, but down 51.85% over the last five years.

Glossary

13F assets: Securities and assets that institutional investment managers must report quarterly to the SEC on Form 13F.
Assets under management (AUM): The total market value of investments managed by a fund or firm on behalf of clients.
Equity portfolio: The collection of stocks and related investments held by a fund or investor.
Single-name position: An investment in a specific company's stock, as opposed to a basket or index.
Dividend yield: Annual dividends paid by a company divided by its share price, shown as a percentage.
Forward P/E: Price-to-earnings ratio using forecasted earnings for the next fiscal year.
EV/EBITDA: Enterprise value divided by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization; used to value companies.
Compound annual growth rate (CAGR): The annualized rate of return for an investment over a set period, assuming profits are reinvested.
Call (option): A financial contract giving the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to purchase an asset at a set price before expiration.
Market value: The current price at which an asset or company can be bought or sold in the marketplace.
TTM: The 12-month period ending with the most recent quarterly report.
Outperform: To achieve a higher return than a benchmark or comparable investment over a specific period.