H World Group Limited (NASDAQ:HTHT) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

H World Group Limited (NASDAQ:HTHT - Get Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,070,000 shares, a decline of 7.8% from the January 15th total of 12,000,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,970,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.6 days. Currently, 3.5% of the company's stock are short sold.

H World Group Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:HTHT traded down $0.60 during trading on Friday, hitting $36.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,249,224 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,125,092. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.88. H World Group has a fifty-two week low of $27.03 and a fifty-two week high of $42.98. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $32.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.46. The company has a market capitalization of $11.38 billion, a PE ratio of 22.01, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.70.

H World Group (NASDAQ:HTHT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 26th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.09). H World Group had a return on equity of 30.41% and a net margin of 15.97%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that H World Group will post 1.65 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of H World Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new stake in H World Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in H World Group by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,839 shares of the company's stock valued at $160,000 after buying an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in H World Group by 293.2% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,817 shares of the company's stock valued at $179,000 after buying an additional 3,592 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in H World Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $196,000. Finally, Greenleaf Trust bought a new stake in H World Group in the third quarter valued at about $210,000. 46.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on HTHT. Benchmark reduced their price objective on H World Group from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Hsbc Global Res cut H World Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, HSBC cut H World Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $32.40 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.40.

H World Group Company Profile

H World Group Limited develops leased and owned, manachised, and franchised hotels 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.