LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) Lowered to “Buy” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report released on Monday.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of LendingTree in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded LendingTree from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on LendingTree from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on LendingTree from $66.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded LendingTree from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $74.29.

LendingTree Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:TREE opened at $53.52 on Monday. LendingTree has a 52-week low of $33.50 and a 52-week high of $77.35. The stock has a market cap of $731.67 million, a P/E ratio of -13.18 and a beta of 1.75. The business has a fifty day moving average of $64.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.26.

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.47. LendingTree had a negative net margin of 5.33% and a positive return on equity of 25.79%. The firm had revenue of $307.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $278.36 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. LendingTree has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts expect that LendingTree will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other LendingTree news, CFO Jason Bengel sold 6,469 shares of LendingTree stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.86, for a total value of $445,455.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 6,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $448,760.62. The trade was a 49.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Diego A. Rodriguez sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.78, for a total transaction of $83,736.00. Following the sale, the director owned 8,113 shares in the company, valued at $566,125.14. This trade represents a 12.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,669 shares of company stock valued at $598,331. 23.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in LendingTree by 272.6% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new stake in shares of LendingTree during the third quarter worth $35,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of LendingTree by 25.2% in the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in LendingTree by 281.0% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 826 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in LendingTree by 11.4% in the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 2,212 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.26% of the company’s stock.

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.