H World Group (NASDAQ:HTHT) Shares Gap Down - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• H World Group shares gapped down premarket from $50.92 to an open of $49.01 and were last trading around $48.90, down about 5.6% on volume of ~119,852 shares.
• Multiple analysts have upgraded the stock (Weiss, Zacks, UBS, Benchmark, Wall Street Zen), leaving a MarketBeat consensus rating of Buy with a $54.80 price target.
• The company declared a $1.30 per share dividend payable May 20 (ex-dividend date May 4), a payout that MarketBeat reports implies an unusually high 541.0% yield and a 70.22% payout ratio.

H World Group Limited Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:HTHT - Get Free Report) shares gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $50.92, but opened at $49.01. H World Group shares last traded at $48.8950, with a volume of 119,852 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of H World Group in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of H World Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. UBS Group upgraded shares of H World Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $62.40 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of H World Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of H World Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have given a Buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, H World Group presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $54.80.

H World Group Stock Down 5.6%

The firm's 50 day moving average is $52.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.57. The stock has a market cap of $14.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

H World Group (NASDAQ:HTHT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, February 14th. The company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter. H World Group had a net margin of 20.05% and a return on equity of 37.79%. The company had revenue of $932.62 million during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts predict that H World Group Limited Sponsored ADR will post 2.5 EPS for the current year.

H World Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 4th. This represents a dividend yield of 541.0%. H World Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 70.22%.

Insider Activity at H World Group

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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 49.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in H World Group by 11.2% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,319 shares of the company's stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 936 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in H World Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $888,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in H World Group by 81.0% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,450 shares of the company's stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 649 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP acquired a new stake in H World Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,881,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in H World Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $651,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.41% of the company's stock.

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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