Legal & General Group Plc Lowers Position in H World Group Limited Sponsored ADR $HTHT

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in H World Group by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 156,152 shares and leaving it with 974,499 shares valued at about $45.85 million.
• Several other institutional investors adjusted their positions, with notable buying from firms such as Principal Financial Group, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management, APG Asset Management, and Serenity Capital Management. Overall, hedge funds and other institutions own about 46.41% of the stock.
• H World Group’s stock and outlook remain mixed: the company reported quarterly EPS of $0.06 on revenue of $932.62 million, and analysts currently have a consensus Buy rating with an average price target of $61.20.

Legal & General Group Plc cut its holdings in H World Group Limited Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:HTHT - Free Report) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 974,499 shares of the company's stock after selling 156,152 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.32% of H World Group worth $45,850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in H World Group in the third quarter worth about $12,207,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in H World Group by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 237,340 shares of the company's stock worth $11,390,000 after acquiring an additional 23,372 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its stake in H World Group by 146.8% in the third quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 108,093 shares of the company's stock worth $4,228,000 after acquiring an additional 64,300 shares during the period. Aubrey Capital Management Ltd purchased a new stake in H World Group in the fourth quarter worth about $11,946,000. Finally, Serenity Capital Management PTE. LTD. lifted its position in shares of H World Group by 126.0% during the third quarter. Serenity Capital Management PTE. LTD. now owns 1,274,391 shares of the company's stock valued at $49,841,000 after buying an additional 710,431 shares during the last quarter. 46.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Theng Fong Hee sold 31,640 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.96, for a total transaction of $1,612,374.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

H World Group Stock Performance

HTHT stock opened at $44.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $13.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.13, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.15. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.48. H World Group Limited Sponsored ADR has a one year low of $30.41 and a one year high of $56.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93.

H World Group (NASDAQ:HTHT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, February 14th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. H World Group had a net margin of 19.22% and a return on equity of 39.73%. The firm had revenue of $932.62 million for the quarter. On average, equities analysts forecast that H World Group Limited Sponsored ADR will post 2.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H World Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a dividend yield of 542.0%. H World Group's dividend payout ratio is 114.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HTHT has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group raised shares of H World Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $62.40 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of H World Group from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of H World Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday. Zacks Research raised shares of H World Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Benchmark increased their price target on shares of H World Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, H World Group presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $61.20.

H World Group Company Profile

H World Group, formerly known as Huazhu Group, is a leading hotel management and franchising company primarily serving the China market. The company operates a broad portfolio of midscale to luxury hotel brands, including Hi Inn, Blossom, Manxin, Madison International, Joya, Grand Mercure, Novotel, Mercure and ibis. Through a network of both directly managed and franchised properties, H World Group caters to business and leisure travelers by offering consistent service standards and loyalty benefits across its brands.

In addition to its core hotel operations, H World Group provides technology-driven hospitality solutions such as centralized reservation systems, revenue management platforms and customer relationship management tools.

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