Macquarie Initiates Coverage on H World Group (NASDAQ:HTHT)

Research analysts at Macquarie began coverage on shares of H World Group (NASDAQ:HTHT) in a note issued to investors on Friday, Briefing.com reports. The firm set an “outperform” rating and a $48.00 price target on the stock. Macquarie’s price target suggests a potential upside of 30.08% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on HTHT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of H World Group from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of H World Group from $51.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $64.00 price objective on shares of H World Group in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, H World Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.00.

H World Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HTHT traded down $0.46 on Friday, hitting $36.90. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 261,947 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,894,099. H World Group has a 12-month low of $30.20 and a 12-month high of $49.64. The company has a market capitalization of $12.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $37.47 and a 200-day moving average of $35.69.

H World Group (NASDAQ:HTHT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $786.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $759.99 million. H World Group had a net margin of 18.62% and a return on equity of 31.50%. As a group, research analysts predict that H World Group will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On H World Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in H World Group by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 16,389,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $548,080,000 after purchasing an additional 1,039,888 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in H World Group by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,432,587 shares of the company’s stock worth $281,986,000 after purchasing an additional 27,629 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in H World Group by 1.6% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,980,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $131,307,000 after buying an additional 61,482 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in H World Group by 20.7% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,229,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,540,000 after buying an additional 382,538 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in H World Group by 6.0% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,057,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $81,110,000 after buying an additional 116,641 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 46.41% of the company’s stock.

About H World Group

H World Group Limited, together with its subsidiaries, develops leased and owned, manachised, and franchised hotels primarily in the People's Republic of China. The company operates hotels under its own brands, such as HanTing Hotel, Ni Hao Hotel, Hi Inn, Elan Hotel, Zleep Hotels, Ibis Hotel, JI Hotel, Orange Hotel, Starway Hotel, Ibis Styles Hotel, CitiGO Hotel, Crystal Orange Hotel, IntercityHotel, Manxin Hotel, Mercure Hotel, Madison Hotel, Novotel Hotel, Joya Hotel, Blossom House, Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts, MAXX by Steigenberger, Jaz in the City, Grand Mercure, Steigenberger Icon, and Song Hotels.