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

Hello Group Inc. Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:MOMO) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 5,864 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,366% compared to the average volume of 400 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Hello Group by 1.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,408,461 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,868,000 after purchasing an additional 37,306 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Hello Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,176,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in Hello Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,087,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Hello Group by 92.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 161,492 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $937,000 after buying an additional 77,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maven Securities LTD acquired a new stake in Hello Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $833,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on MOMO. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Hello Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, July 26th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Hello Group from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Friday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $9.05.

Hello Group Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ MOMO traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $4.57. The company had a trading volume of 406,231 shares, compared to its average volume of 763,649. The stock has a market capitalization of $491.03 million, a P/E ratio of 4.66 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $5.13 and a 200 day moving average of $5.66. Hello Group has a 1-year low of $4.47 and a 1-year high of $7.25.

Hello Group (NASDAQ:MOMO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The information services provider reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.04. Hello Group had a net margin of 11.02% and a return on equity of 10.43%. The firm had revenue of $365.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.62 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.58) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Hello Group Company Profile

Hello Group Inc, formerly known as Momo Inc, is a China-based mobile social networking and entertainment company. Founded in 2011, the company operates digital platforms that help users discover and interact with people based on location, interests and other social connections.

Its principal products include Momo, a social networking application that offers messaging, content sharing, live video and other interactive features, and Tantan, a dating and relationship-focused platform acquired by the company in 2018.