H World Group (NASDAQ:HTHT) Stock Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Technical breakout: HTHT recently rose above its 200-day moving average ($46.84), trading as high as $52.43 and last at $51.73 on heavy volume, signaling a potential bullish momentum shift.
• Analyst upgrades: Multiple firms have raised ratings to Buy/Strong-Buy (Benchmark raised its target to $60; UBS to $62.40), giving an average price target of $54.80 and a consensus rating of "Buy."
• Surprising dividend: H World declared a $1.30 per-share dividend (ex-dividend May 4, payable May 20) that the report cites as a 518% yield and a payout ratio of 113.78%, figures that are unusually high and merit further scrutiny.

H World Group Limited Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:HTHT - Get Free Report) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $46.84 and traded as high as $52.43. H World Group shares last traded at $51.73, with a volume of 1,332,397 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on HTHT shares. Benchmark increased their price objective on H World Group from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of H World Group in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen raised H World Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Zacks Research raised H World Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, UBS Group raised H World Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $62.40 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have issued a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, H World Group has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $54.80.

H World Group Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market cap of $15.93 billion, a PE ratio of 22.99, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.17. The stock's 50-day moving average is $51.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.84.

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 for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $932.62 million during the quarter. H World Group had a net margin of 20.05% and a return on equity of 37.79%. On average, equities analysts predict that H World Group Limited Sponsored ADR will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current year.

H World Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 4th. This represents a dividend yield of 518.0%. H World Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 113.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On H World Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its holdings in H World Group by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 13,177,593 shares of the company's stock valued at $515,376,000 after acquiring an additional 690,149 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in H World Group by 71.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,334,604 shares of the company's stock valued at $392,143,000 after acquiring an additional 3,483,760 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in H World Group by 43.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 8,026,731 shares of the company's stock valued at $313,925,000 after acquiring an additional 2,420,473 shares during the period. Kontiki Capital Management HK Ltd. boosted its holdings in H World Group by 49.6% during the 4th quarter. Kontiki Capital Management HK Ltd. now owns 3,703,788 shares of the company's stock valued at $174,263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,228,617 shares during the period. Finally, Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC purchased a new position in H World Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $87,153,000. 46.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About H World Group

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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