LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) Cut to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Monday morning.

TREE has been the subject of several other research reports. Truist Financial set a $78.00 price target on LendingTree in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LendingTree in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Zacks Research downgraded LendingTree from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of LendingTree in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of LendingTree from $70.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.20.

LendingTree Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TREE opened at $41.39 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $577.39 million, a P/E ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.89. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.30. LendingTree has a 1-year low of $32.65 and a 1-year high of $77.35.

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.11). LendingTree had a net margin of 15.02% and a return on equity of 17.01%. The business had revenue of $319.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $321.32 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. LendingTree’s revenue was up 36.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that LendingTree will post 3.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of LendingTree

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of LendingTree during the fourth quarter valued at $31,120,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in LendingTree by 1,747.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 546,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,260,000 after buying an additional 516,958 shares during the period. Mariner LLC increased its stake in LendingTree by 31.5% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 1,760,407 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $93,461,000 after buying an additional 421,826 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in LendingTree by 1,163.1% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 263,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,078,000 after buying an additional 242,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Grotto Capital LLC lifted its holdings in LendingTree by 64.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Grotto Capital LLC now owns 584,931 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,054,000 after buying an additional 228,858 shares in the last quarter. 68.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About LendingTree

LendingTree, Inc operates an online marketplace that connects consumers with a network of lenders and financial service providers. Through its platform, borrowers can compare loan offers for mortgages, home equity loans, personal loans, student loans, auto loans and small business financing. The company also offers tools for comparing credit cards and deposit accounts, allowing users to research rates and terms from a range of providers in one place.

Founded in 1996 by Doug Lebda, LendingTree pioneered the comparison-shopping model for consumer credit products.