LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) Shares Down 8.3% – Here’s What Happened

LendingTree, Inc. (NASDAQ:TREE) shares fell 8.3% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $42.07 and last traded at $42.15. 150,537 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 460,329 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.96.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on TREE. Wall Street Zen cut shares of LendingTree from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Zacks Research downgraded LendingTree from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on LendingTree from $83.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of LendingTree in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on LendingTree from $85.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, LendingTree currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.00.

LendingTree Trading Down 9.7%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The company has a market capitalization of $567.31 million, a P/E ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 2.21. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $50.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.37.

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 2nd. The financial services provider reported ($0.39) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($1.29). The firm had revenue of $310.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $286.56 million. LendingTree had a net margin of 13.55% and a return on equity of 12.44%. LendingTree’s revenue was up 22.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that LendingTree, Inc. will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TREE. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new position in LendingTree during the fourth quarter worth $659,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of LendingTree by 861.5% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,750 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $199,000 after purchasing an additional 3,360 shares during the last quarter. VARCOV Co. bought a new stake in shares of LendingTree in the 4th quarter valued at about $544,000. Man Group plc acquired a new stake in LendingTree in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,029,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in LendingTree during the fourth quarter worth about $1,561,000. Institutional investors own 68.26% of the company’s stock.

LendingTree Company Profile

LendingTree, Inc operates an online marketplace that connects consumers with a network of lenders and financial service providers. Through its platform, borrowers can compare loan offers for mortgages, home equity loans, personal loans, student loans, auto loans and small business financing. The company also offers tools for comparing credit cards and deposit accounts, allowing users to research rates and terms from a range of providers in one place.

Founded in 1996 by Doug Lebda, LendingTree pioneered the comparison-shopping model for consumer credit products.