Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Hello Group (NASDAQ:MOMO)

Hello Group Inc. (NASDAQ:MOMO) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 4,838 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 390% compared to the typical volume of 988 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hello Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 worth $45,781,000 after purchasing an additional 1,538,632 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Hello Group by 994.2% in the first quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,617,308 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,043,000 after buying an additional 1,469,500 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its stake in shares of Hello Group by 188.3% in the fourth quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,001,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,961,000 after buying an additional 654,200 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its position in Hello Group by 33.5% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,277,629 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,144,000 after acquiring an additional 571,840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Hello Group by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,274,996 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,711,000 after acquiring an additional 555,602 shares in the last quarter. 50.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hello Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MOMO opened at $6.60 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.13. Hello Group has a 12 month low of $4.79 and a 12 month high of $11.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $956.34 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.00, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 2.36.

Hello Group (NASDAQ:MOMO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 28th. The information services provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.02. Hello Group had a net margin of 13.38% and a return on equity of 13.61%. The company had revenue of $2.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Hello Group will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Benchmark cut their price target on shares of Hello Group from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. StockNews.com lowered Hello Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Hello Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $13.00 to $6.00 in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Hello Group from $6.40 to $5.70 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Hello Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $8.90.

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.