Yahoo Shares Up After Barclays Upgrade

Shares of Yahoo

rallied on Monday after analysts at Barclays upgraded the Internet name to Overweight and raised its price target to $26 from $22. Shares of Yahoo traded up well over 3.50% on the news, near $22.70. In a note, Barclays argues that Yahoo's Alibaba stake has increased in value. Yahoo is likely to sell its remaining Alibaba stake, Barclays argues, and will return the proceeds to shareholders. Yahoo could also do the same with its Yahoo Japan assets, which have also appreciated in value in recent months. Hedge fund manager Dan Loeb began his conquest of Yahoo back in 2011. After getting himself on the board, and kicking out then-CEO Scott Thompson, Yahoo has been particularly kind to investors. In September, Yahoo closed on the sale of some of its Alibaba stake for a gain of $4.3 billion. It then returned about $3 billion of that to its shareholders through a boosted buyback program. Barclays seems to believe that it will do the same with the rest of its Alibaba stake, along with its Yahoo Japan holdings. Shares of Yahoo closed at $22.70 on Monday.