LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on TREE. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on LendingTree from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Truist Financial set a $62.00 target price on LendingTree and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, LendingTree currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $65.38.

LendingTree Price Performance

TREE stock opened at $62.06 on Monday. LendingTree has a 52-week low of $33.50 and a 52-week high of $65.42. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $845.26 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.29 and a beta of 1.58.

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.04. LendingTree had a positive return on equity of 25.79% and a negative net margin of 5.33%.The business had revenue of $250.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $244.03 million. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that LendingTree will post 0.48 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Heather Enlow-Novitsky sold 1,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total transaction of $45,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 2,028 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,494.72. This represents a 38.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 23.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of LendingTree

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in LendingTree by 25.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in LendingTree by 281.0% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 826 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in LendingTree by 248.0% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 848 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co purchased a new position in LendingTree in the 4th quarter valued at about $56,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in LendingTree by 4,509.1% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 1,984 shares during the last quarter. 68.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

LendingTree Company Profile

LendingTree, Inc, through its subsidiary, operates online consumer platform in the United States. It operates through three segments: Home, Consumer, and Insurance. The Home segment offers purchase mortgage, refinance mortgage, and home equity loans and lines of credit; and real estate brokerage services.