LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) Earns "Sell (D-)" Rating from Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• Weiss Ratings has reaffirmed its "Sell (D-)" rating for LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE), indicating concerns about the company's stock performance.
• Despite the negative outlook from Weiss Ratings, other analysts, such as Keefe, Bruyette & Woods and Truist Financial, have raised their ratings for LendingTree to "strong-buy" and set a target price of $62.00.
• LendingTree's stock recently increased by 4.8%, trading at $62.86, with a market capitalization of approximately $856.15 million.

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "sell (d-)" rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Weiss Ratings in a report issued on Friday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised LendingTree from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Truist Financial set a $62.00 target price on LendingTree and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Zacks Research downgraded LendingTree from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Wall Street Zen raised LendingTree from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on LendingTree from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, LendingTree currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $65.38.

LendingTree Stock Up 4.8%

Shares of TREE traded up $2.86 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $62.86. 272,432 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 210,454. LendingTree has a 1 year low of $33.50 and a 1 year high of $77.35. The firm's fifty day moving average is $66.10 and its 200-day moving average is $50.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $856.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.48 and a beta of 1.71.

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $250.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $244.03 million. The company's quarterly revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that LendingTree will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Jason Bengel sold 6,469 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.86, for a total transaction of $445,455.34. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 6,517 shares in the company, valued at $448,760.62. This trade represents a 49.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Diego A. Rodriguez sold 1,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.78, for a total value of $83,736.00. Following the sale, the director owned 8,113 shares in the company, valued at $566,125.14. This trade represents a 12.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,669 shares of company stock worth $598,331 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 23.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On LendingTree

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of LendingTree by 1,747.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 546,536 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $20,260,000 after acquiring an additional 516,958 shares during the period. Blue Grotto Capital LLC boosted its holdings in LendingTree by 27.3% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Grotto Capital LLC now owns 382,610 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $14,183,000 after buying an additional 82,131 shares during the last quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in LendingTree by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 381,978 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $14,160,000 after buying an additional 3,415 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in LendingTree by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 357,641 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $17,979,000 after buying an additional 14,644 shares during the last quarter. Finally, G2 Investment Partners Management LLC boosted its holdings in LendingTree by 69.0% in the 2nd quarter. G2 Investment Partners Management LLC now owns 305,573 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $11,328,000 after buying an additional 124,806 shares during the last quarter. 68.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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