Benchmark Trims Hello Group (NASDAQ:MOMO) Target Price to $13.00

Hello Group (NASDAQ:MOMO) had its price target cut by Benchmark from $15.00 to $13.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on MOMO. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Hello Group from $6.50 to $7.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut Hello Group from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. StockNews.com cut Hello Group from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Hello Group from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and reduced their target price for the company from $13.00 to $6.00 in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Hello Group from $6.40 to $5.70 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $7.93.

Hello Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MOMO opened at $6.38 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $924.46 million, a P/E ratio of 5.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 2.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $6.61 and its 200-day moving average is $6.23. Hello Group has a 1-year low of $4.79 and a 1-year high of $7.89.

Hello Group (NASDAQ:MOMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 3rd. The information services provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $2.13. The company had revenue of $2.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.67 billion. Hello Group had a return on equity of 13.61% and a net margin of 13.38%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.39 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Hello Group will post 0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hello Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MOMO. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Hello Group by 26.4% during the first 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 period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Hello Group by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,274,996 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,711,000 after purchasing an additional 555,602 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Hello Group by 20.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,716,809 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,736,000 after purchasing an additional 633,746 shares during the period. BRIGHT VALLEY CAPITAL Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Hello Group during the second quarter worth approximately $22,553,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 571,840 shares during the period. 50.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.