Hello Group Inc. (NASDAQ:MOMO) Short Interest Update

Hello Group Inc. (NASDAQ:MOMO) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,470,000 shares, a decrease of 29.2% from the May 31st total of 3,490,000 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,960,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.3 days.

Hello Group Trading Up 1.8 %

MOMO traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $6.12. 1,041,297 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,743,414. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $5.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $886.79 million, a PE ratio of 5.56, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 2.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Hello Group has a 52-week low of $4.79 and a 52-week high of $11.12.

Hello Group (NASDAQ:MOMO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 28th. The information services provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.48 billion. Hello Group had a net margin of 13.38% and a return on equity of 13.61%. The business’s revenue was down 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Hello Group will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hello Group Cuts Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hello Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hello Group by 26.4% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 7,377,789 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,781,000 after acquiring an additional 1,538,632 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Hello Group by 994.2% during the first quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,617,308 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,043,000 after purchasing an additional 1,469,500 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Hello Group by 294.4% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,238,483 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,645,000 after purchasing an additional 924,447 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its stake in Hello Group by 188.3% in the fourth quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,001,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,961,000 after buying an additional 654,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in Hello Group by 33.5% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,277,629 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,144,000 after buying an additional 571,840 shares during the period. 50.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Hello Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Benchmark reduced their target price on shares of Hello Group from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Hello Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $13.00 to $6.00 in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Hello Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Hello Group from $6.40 to $5.70 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $8.90.

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.