A new analyst note on Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) pushed the company’s stock higher on Thursday. While the document didn’t indicate a change in view from its author, it did help support the bull case for the stock. Ultimately, Alibaba shares ended the day almost 4% higher, well above the 1% increase of the S&P 500 index that day.

JPMorgan Chase reiterated its Alibaba buy recommendation

Before market open, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) analyst Alex Yao reiterated his overweight (buy, in other words) tag on Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed stock. He also maintained his 120 Hong Kong dollar ($15.37) per-share price target. That’s well above the shares’ most recent closing price of HK$73.35 ($9.40).

The reasoning behind Yao’s move wasn’t immediately clear. It came on the heels of several major developments for the storied Chinese e-commerce company, which is in the midst of splitting into a set of core business units, although it subsequently scrapped plans to hive off its cloud-computing division.

The most recent development in this story was Alibaba’s announcement on Wednesday that its CEO, Eddie Wu, is to fulfill that function at one of those units, Taobao and Tmall Group, effective immediately. When the split occurs, Tabao and Tmall will be by far the largest in terms of revenue, as it houses the current Alibaba’s domestic e-commerce operations. These are the source of more than two-thirds of Alibaba’s revenue.

Alibaba also said that it will create a new asset management business specifically designed to concentrate on its non-core assets.

First annual dividend declared last month

Alibaba is also making moves to keep its shareholders engaged and interested. Last month it declared its first-ever annual dividend. Although this payout yields less than 1.5%, investors are hopeful that they will keep receiving payouts from at least a few Alibaba successor companies once the split is finalized.

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JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends JPMorgan Chase. The Motley Fool recommends Alibaba Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Why Alibaba Stock Topped the Market on Thursday was originally published by The Motley Fool