Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms "Buy" Rating for LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE)

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $62.00 price objective on the financial services provider's stock. Needham & Company LLC's price target points to a potential upside of 26.83% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on TREE. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of LendingTree from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of LendingTree from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, May 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, LendingTree has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $64.13.

LendingTree Stock Up 19.1%

TREE stock traded up $7.83 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $48.88. The company had a trading volume of 543,540 shares, compared to its average volume of 306,264. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.74. The company has a market capitalization of $661.40 million, a P/E ratio of -11.90 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a 50 day moving average of $36.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.97. LendingTree has a 1 year low of $33.50 and a 1 year high of $62.49.

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $239.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $244.93 million. LendingTree had a negative net margin of 5.67% and a positive return on equity of 14.76%. LendingTree's quarterly revenue was up 42.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that LendingTree will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at LendingTree

In other news, General Counsel Heather Enlow-Novitsky sold 1,250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.24, for a total transaction of $45,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 2,028 shares of the company's stock, valued at $73,494.72. This represents a 38.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 23.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TREE. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in LendingTree during the 1st quarter valued at $11,603,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of LendingTree in the second quarter valued at approximately $7,337,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in shares of LendingTree by 2,074.7% in the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 107,998 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,185,000 after acquiring an additional 103,032 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC boosted its stake in LendingTree by 127.2% during the fourth quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 166,575 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,455,000 after buying an additional 93,244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted 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 worth $5,092,000 after acquiring an additional 54,368 shares in the last quarter. 68.26% of the stock is currently owned by 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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