Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH) Stock Bumped Down to “Hold” by Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on MTCH. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Match Group in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Match Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Match Group from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $40.00 price target on Match Group in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Match Group from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.46.

Match Group Stock Up 0.7%

MTCH opened at $40.62 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $9.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.35, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.43. Match Group has a 52-week low of $28.81 and a 52-week high of $44.94. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.32.

Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The technology company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $853.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $857.77 million. Match Group had a net margin of 20.17% and a negative return on equity of 324.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.49 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Match Group will post 3.31 EPS for the current year.

Match Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 5th. Match Group’s payout ratio is currently 28.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Stephen Bailey sold 4,760 shares of Match Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.26, for a total transaction of $201,157.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 11,742 shares in the company, valued at approximately $496,216.92. This trade represents a 28.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Philip D. Eigenmann sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.70, for a total value of $625,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 19,389 shares in the company, valued at $808,521.30. This trade represents a 43.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 23,291 shares of company stock valued at $976,478 over the last ninety days. 0.71% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Match Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Match Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,087,055,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Match Group by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 7,494,679 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $242,003,000 after purchasing an additional 196,191 shares during the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Match Group during the second quarter worth about $154,811,000. First Manhattan CO. LLC. raised its stake in Match Group by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 3,557,506 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $114,872,000 after purchasing an additional 68,649 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Match Group during the second quarter worth about $100,796,000. 94.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Match Group

Match Group, Inc is a global provider of online dating and social discovery services. The company operates a portfolio of dating platforms designed to help users form romantic, social and relationship-oriented connections across a range of demographics, interests and relationship goals.

Its brands include Tinder, Hinge, Match, Meetic, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, OurTime, BLK, Chispa and The League. These services are available through mobile applications and websites and generally offer features such as user profiles, matching, messaging, discovery tools and subscription or other paid enhancements.

Match Group traces its origins to Match.com and was established as a standalone public company after being spun off from IAC in 2020.