Match Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTCH) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Match Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTCH - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the twenty-four research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fourteen have assigned a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $35.91.

MTCH has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on Match Group from $34.00 to $31.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Match Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 17th. HSBC lowered shares of Match Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Match Group from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Match Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th.

Insider Activity at Match Group

In related news, CEO Spencer M. Rascoff acquired 70,885 shares of Match Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $28.05 per share, for a total transaction of $1,988,324.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 137,478 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,856,257.90. This represents a 106.45% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Gary Swidler sold 242,209 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.86, for a total transaction of $7,958,987.74. Following the transaction, the president now owns 1,690 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $55,533.40. This represents a 99.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Match Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Starboard Value LP grew its position in shares of Match Group by 53.4% during the fourth quarter. Starboard Value LP now owns 14,656,970 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $479,429,000 after purchasing an additional 5,100,824 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Match Group by 17.4% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 12,321,485 shares of the technology company's stock worth $384,808,000 after purchasing an additional 1,822,362 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Match Group by 64.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,565,726 shares of the technology company's stock worth $298,451,000 after purchasing an additional 3,738,509 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Match Group by 110.5% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,624,212 shares of the technology company's stock worth $183,968,000 after purchasing an additional 2,952,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Match Group by 10.0% in the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,573,084 shares of the technology company's stock worth $173,880,000 after purchasing an additional 506,763 shares during the last quarter. 94.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Match Group Price Performance

NASDAQ MTCH traded down $0.36 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $30.18. The stock had a trading volume of 3,773,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,909,675. The stock has a market cap of $7.56 billion, a PE ratio of 14.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.42. Match Group has a 1 year low of $26.39 and a 1 year high of $38.84. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $29.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.53.

Match Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. Match Group's payout ratio is 37.62%.

Match Group Company Profile

Match Group, Inc engages in the provision of dating products. Its portfolio of brands includes Tinder, Hinge, Match, Meetic, OkCupid, Pairs, Plenty Of Fish, Azar, BLK, and Hakuna, as well as a various other brands, each built to increase users' likelihood of connecting with others. Its services are available in over 40 languages to users worldwide.