Wall Street Zen Upgrades LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) to Strong-Buy

Key Points

• LendingTree has been upgraded to a strong-buy rating by Wall Street Zen, indicating increased confidence in the stock's performance.
• Analysts have set an average target price of $65.38, with several firms raising their price targets, including a substantial increase from Needham & Company LLC to $70.00.
• Despite some insider selling, institutional investors own approximately 68.26% of the company's stock, reflecting significant interest from larger financial entities.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE - Free Report) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

TREE has been the subject of several other reports. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of LendingTree from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Truist Financial set a $62.00 price objective on shares of LendingTree and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of LendingTree from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $65.38.

LendingTree Price Performance

NASDAQ:TREE traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $76.19. 34,905 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 311,135. The business's 50-day moving average price is $57.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.44. The company has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of -18.72 and a beta of 1.69. LendingTree has a 12-month low of $33.50 and a 12-month high of $77.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.26.

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

Insider Transactions at LendingTree

In other LendingTree news, Director Diego A. Rodriguez sold 1,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.78, for a total value of $83,736.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $566,125.14. The trade was a 12.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jason Bengel sold 6,469 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.86, for a total value of $445,455.34. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 6,517 shares of the company's stock, valued at $448,760.62. This trade represents a 49.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,669 shares of company stock valued at $598,331. 23.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of LendingTree

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of LendingTree by 4.0% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 90,550 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,357,000 after acquiring an additional 3,468 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its stake in LendingTree by 36.1% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 19,403 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $719,000 after acquiring an additional 5,146 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in LendingTree by 281.0% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,120 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 826 shares during the last quarter. G2 Investment Partners Management LLC grew its stake in shares of LendingTree by 69.0% in the second quarter. G2 Investment Partners Management LLC now owns 305,573 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $11,328,000 after buying an additional 124,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boothbay Fund Management LLC grew its stake in shares of LendingTree by 66.9% in the second quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 67,681 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,509,000 after buying an additional 27,129 shares in the last quarter. 68.26% of the stock is currently 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.