LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) Rating Lowered to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• LendingTree has been downgraded from a "strong-buy" to a "buy" rating by Wall Street Zen as of Wednesday.
• Needham & Company has raised its price target for LendingTree from $62 to $70, contributing to a mixed analyst outlook with an average target price of $65.38.
• Insider trading activity shows significant sales by top executives, with over 8,669 shares sold in the last three months, indicating a potential decrease in insider confidence.

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday.

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

LendingTree Price Performance

TREE stock opened at $67.84 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $923.98 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.71 and a beta of 1.69. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $50.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.26. LendingTree has a 12-month low of $33.50 and a 12-month high of $70.72.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at LendingTree

In other news, Director Diego A. Rodriguez sold 1,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.78, for a total transaction of $83,736.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,113 shares of the company's stock, valued at $566,125.14. The trade was a 12.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Heather Enlow-Novitsky sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total value of $69,140.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 1,028 shares of the company's stock, valued at $71,075.92. This trade represents a 49.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,669 shares of company stock worth $598,331 in the last three months. 23.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On LendingTree

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in LendingTree by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 204,896 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,940,000 after acquiring an additional 27,887 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of LendingTree by 248.0% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,190 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 848 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of LendingTree by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 94,889 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,677,000 after purchasing an additional 6,011 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in LendingTree by 70.6% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 131,404 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,092,000 after purchasing an additional 54,368 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in LendingTree in the 4th quarter worth approximately $441,000. 68.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About LendingTree

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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