LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Sunday morning.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of LendingTree from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Northland Securities upgraded LendingTree from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on LendingTree from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Northland Capmk raised LendingTree from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on shares of LendingTree in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.13.

LendingTree Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TREE opened at $40.32 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $545.73 million, a PE ratio of -14.93 and a beta of 1.76. LendingTree has a 1 year low of $34.55 and a 1 year high of $62.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $46.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 4.72% and a positive return on equity of 0.51%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 42.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that LendingTree will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Scott Peyree acquired 9,794 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $46.13 per share, with a total value of $451,797.22. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 97,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,500,719.58. This represents a 11.16% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 23.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On LendingTree

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in LendingTree during the 4th quarter valued at about $956,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of LendingTree during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,254,000. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of LendingTree by 199.2% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 64,056 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,482,000 after buying an additional 42,647 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of LendingTree by 101.5% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 2,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 1,021 shares during the period. Finally, Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of LendingTree in the fourth quarter worth approximately $298,000. Institutional investors own 68.26% of the company’s stock.

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.