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

Key Points

• LendingTree has been upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "hold" to a "buy" rating, reflecting positive sentiments among analysts regarding the company's stock.
• The current consensus rating for LendingTree is "Buy," with a price target averaging at $65.13, following recent upgrades from multiple analysts.
• LendingTree's stock has seen a 6.0% increase recently, and it reported a quarterly earnings per share of $1.13, surpassing analyst expectations.

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on TREE. Truist Financial lowered their target price on LendingTree from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on LendingTree from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, LendingTree presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $65.38.

LendingTree Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of TREE traded up $0.27 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $53.50. The company had a trading volume of 117,135 shares, compared to its average volume of 317,730. LendingTree has a 1-year low of $33.50 and a 1-year high of $62.49. The stock has a market cap of $728.67 million, a PE ratio of -13.21 and a beta of 1.58. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.26.

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $250.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $244.03 million. LendingTree had a positive return on equity of 25.79% and a negative net margin of 5.33%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that LendingTree will post 0.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other LendingTree news, General Counsel Heather Enlow-Novitsky sold 1,250 shares of LendingTree stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total transaction of $45,300.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 2,028 shares of the company's stock, valued at $73,494.72. The trade was a 38.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 23.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TREE. Emerald Advisers LLC grew its holdings in LendingTree by 0.9% during the second quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 381,978 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $14,160,000 after acquiring an additional 3,415 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in LendingTree by 4.3% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 357,641 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $17,979,000 after acquiring an additional 14,644 shares during the period. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust boosted its position in LendingTree by 3.7% during the first quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust now owns 249,505 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $12,543,000 after purchasing an additional 9,007 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in LendingTree during the first quarter worth $11,603,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position 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 worth $7,940,000 after purchasing an additional 27,887 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.26% of the company's stock.

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.