Hello Group (NASDAQ:MOMO) Rating Lowered to Underperform at Bank of America

Hello Group (NASDAQ:MOMO) was downgraded by analysts at Bank of America from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, FinViz reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Benchmark lowered their price objective on shares of Hello Group from $15.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Hello Group from $6.50 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hello Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.93.

Hello Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ MOMO traded down $0.38 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $6.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,872,952 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,729,164. The company has a current ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 2.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.54. Hello Group has a 12 month low of $4.79 and a 12 month high of $8.19. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $6.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.45.

Hello Group (NASDAQ:MOMO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 3rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $2.13. Hello Group had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company had revenue of $2.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Hello Group will post 0.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Hello Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MOMO. First Beijing Investment Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Hello Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,773,000. BRIGHT VALLEY CAPITAL Ltd bought a new position in shares of Hello Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $22,553,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Hello Group by 26.4% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in 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 worth $10,043,000 after buying an additional 1,469,500 shares during the period. Finally, Polunin Capital Partners Ltd purchased a new position in Hello Group during the second quarter worth $4,566,000. 50.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hello Group Company Profile

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.