Match Group Inc. (NASDAQ:MTCH) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on Match Group, with six buy ratings, nine holds and one strong buy. The average 12-month price target is $42.46.
• Match Group’s latest quarterly earnings exceeded expectations, with EPS of $0.70 versus the $0.65 consensus, although revenue declined 1.2% year over year to $853.1 million.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20, equating to an annualized payout of $0.80 and a 1.9% yield. Insiders sold nearly $1 million of shares over the past three months, while institutional investors own 94.05% of the stock.

Shares of Match Group Inc. (NASDAQ:MTCH - Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the sixteen research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $42.4615.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Match Group from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Match Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Match Group in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Match Group from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Match Group in a report on Monday, August 24th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $43.00 target price for the company.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Philip Eigenmann sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.70, for a total transaction of $625,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 19,389 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $808,521.30. This trade represents a 43.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen Bailey sold 4,760 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.26, for a total value of $201,157.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 11,742 shares in the company, valued at $496,216.92. This trade represents a 28.84% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 23,291 shares of company stock valued at $976,478. Corporate insiders own 0.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Match Group

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MTCH. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Match Group by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 15,463 shares of the technology company's stock worth $588,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Match Group by 3.1% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 10,327 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Bollard Group LLC boosted its position in Match Group by 0.6% during the first quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 52,928 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,625,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. grew its stake in Match Group by 91.3% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 903 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Andina Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Match Group by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 14,657 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $473,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. 94.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Match Group Stock Up 1.8%

Match Group stock opened at $43.15 on Tuesday. Match Group has a 52-week low of $28.81 and a 52-week high of $43.72. The firm's fifty day moving average is $39.71 and its 200 day moving average is $36.14. The company has a market cap of $9.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.25, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.32.

Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $853.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $857.77 million. Match Group had a net margin of 20.17% and a negative return on equity of 324.82%. The business's revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Match Group will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Match Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 5th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 5th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Match Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.27%.

Match Group Company Profile

Match Group, Inc is a provider of online dating and social discovery services. The company operates a portfolio of dating platforms designed to help people form connections, including Tinder, Hinge, Match, Plenty of Fish, OkCupid, Meetic, OurTime, BLK and Chispa. Its services are offered through websites and mobile applications, with features that may include profile discovery, messaging, matching, subscriptions and other paid enhancements.

Match Group serves users in markets around the world, with brands tailored to different audiences, relationship goals, age groups and geographic regions.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.