Grindr (NYSE:GRND) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Shares of Grindr Inc. (NYSE:GRND) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $14.37, but opened at $15.28. Grindr shares last traded at $15.9560, with a volume of 1,138,231 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on GRND shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Grindr to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $18.00 price target on shares of Grindr in a report on Friday, May 8th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Grindr in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Grindr from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Grindr from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $15.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.20.

Grindr Stock Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $13.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 442.30. The stock has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a PE ratio of 32.52 and a beta of 0.24.

Grindr (NYSE:GRND) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.01. Grindr had a net margin of 19.85% and a return on equity of 123.31%. The firm had revenue of $129.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $119.42 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Grindr Inc. will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Grindr

In other news, insider Zachary Katz sold 12,799 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.65, for a total transaction of $187,505.35. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 726,123 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,637,701.95. This represents a 1.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 60.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Grindr

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Grindr during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,441,000. Quinn Opportunity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Grindr in the fourth quarter valued at about $20,565,000. Blacksheep Fund Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Grindr in the fourth quarter worth about $16,804,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Grindr by 442.6% in the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 942,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,149,000 after acquiring an additional 1,217,017 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Grindr during the fourth quarter worth about $15,631,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.22% of the company’s stock.

Grindr Company Profile

Grindr, trading on the NYSE under the ticker symbol GRND, operates a global social networking and dating platform designed primarily for gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (GBTQ) individuals. The company’s core offering is a location-based mobile application that enables users to connect, chat and share content with others in their vicinity. Through its free tier and premium subscription services—known as Grindr XTRA and Grindr Unlimited—Grindr provides enhanced features such as ad-free browsing, advanced filters and unlimited profile views, catering to a broad spectrum of user needs.

Originally launched in 2009 by entrepreneur Joel Simkhai, Grindr was one of the first mobile apps to leverage geolocation technology for social networking.