Hello Group (NASDAQ:MOMO) Shares Gap Up - Time to Buy?

Hello Group Inc. (NASDAQ:MOMO - Get Free Report) shares gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $6.25, but opened at $6.70. Hello Group shares last traded at $6.85, with a volume of 546,814 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $13.00 price objective on shares of Hello Group in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen cut Hello Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $9.00.

Hello Group Price Performance

The stock's fifty day moving average is $5.89 and its 200-day moving average is $6.74. The stock has a market cap of $847.63 million, a PE ratio of 7.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.24.

Hello Group (NASDAQ:MOMO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The information services provider reported $2.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.24 by $2.10. Hello Group had a return on equity of 11.41% and a net margin of 11.98%. The firm had revenue of $347.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.31 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Hello Group Inc. will post 0.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hello Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a yield of 4.18%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 11th.

Institutional Trading of Hello Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Hello Group during the fourth quarter worth about $10,765,000. Causeway Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hello Group by 136.2% during the first quarter. Causeway Capital Management LLC now owns 2,089,913 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205,166 shares during the last quarter. Tiger Pacific Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Hello Group during the first quarter worth about $6,268,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new position in shares of Hello Group during the fourth quarter worth about $4,535,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Hello Group by 25.4% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,751,975 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,365,000 after purchasing an additional 557,777 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.96% of the company's stock.

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.