Asian Tech Press (Aug 24) -- An institution (s) bought $611.71 million worth of common shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. ADR (BABA) last Friday, Benzinga reported.

The report noted that after hours, just before the close of trading last Friday, an institution (s) purchased up to $611.71 million worth of common shares of Alibaba.

Benzinga sees the block trade as a signal that "'smart money‘ has entered into a position."

In addition, Benzinga used two after-hours trades to sound alerts. One occurred at 6:24 p.m., when a trader executed a block trade above ask of 1.6 million Alibaba shares at $160.98 per piece. The trade represented a $257.56 million bullish bet.

The other occurred at 6:28 p.m., when a trader executed a block trade above ask of 2.2 million Alibaba shares at $160.98 per piece. The trade represented a $354.15 million bullish bet.

BABA price rose slightly, or 1.96%, to close at $161.06 a share on Monday. As of press time, the real-time pre-market gain was 5.05%.