Hello Group Inc. (NASDAQ:MOMO) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Hello Group Inc. (NASDAQ:MOMO) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $8.90.

MOMO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Hello Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $13.00 to $6.00 in a report on Monday, June 3rd. StockNews.com cut Hello Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut Hello Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Benchmark lowered their price target on Hello Group from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Hello Group from $6.40 to $5.70 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hello Group

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Hello Group in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Hello Group by 110.0% in the 1st quarter. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,971 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 4,700 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in Hello Group by 10,987.1% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 10,311 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 10,218 shares in the last quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Hello Group in the 4th quarter worth $79,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Hello Group in the 4th quarter worth $124,000. 50.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Hello Group Stock Performance

MOMO stock opened at $6.01 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $870.85 million, a PE ratio of 5.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.59. Hello Group has a 12-month low of $4.79 and a 12-month high of $11.12. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 2.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $6.18.

Hello Group (NASDAQ:MOMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 28th. The information services provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.48 billion. Hello Group had a return on equity of 13.61% and a net margin of 13.38%. The company’s revenue was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Hello Group will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hello Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 11th. This represents a yield of 8.97%.

About Hello Group

Hello Group Inc provides mobile-based social and entertainment services in the People's Republic of China. It operates in three segments: Momo, Tantan, and QOOL. The company offers Momo, a mobile application that connects people and facilitates social interactions based on location, interests, and various online recreational activities, including live talent shows, short videos, social games, as well as other video- and audio-based interactive experiences, such as online parties, mobile karaoke and user participated reality shows; Tantan, a social and dating application; and other applications under the Hertz, Soulchill, Duidui, and Tietie names.