Bank of Montreal Can Sells 686,031 Shares of Match Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTCH)

Bank of Montreal Can trimmed its position in Match Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTCH) by 98.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,729 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 686,031 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Match Group were worth $286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in Match Group by 716.8% in the fourth quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 5,254,933 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $171,889,000 after acquiring an additional 4,611,598 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Match Group in the fourth quarter worth $112,176,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Match Group by 110.5% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,624,212 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $183,968,000 after purchasing an additional 2,952,470 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS boosted its holdings in Match Group by 4,659.2% in the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 1,915,093 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $62,643,000 after buying an additional 1,874,853 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its holdings in Match Group by 2,732.1% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 1,659,718 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $62,804,000 after acquiring an additional 1,601,115 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MTCH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America decreased their target price on Match Group from $36.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Match Group from $33.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. BTIG Research lowered Match Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Match Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Match Group from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and set a $35.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Match Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.96.

Match Group Stock Performance

Match Group stock opened at $29.67 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.43 billion, a PE ratio of 14.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $30.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.78. Match Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.39 and a fifty-two week high of $38.84.

Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.22). Match Group had a negative return on equity of 574.22% and a net margin of 15.84%. On average, analysts forecast that Match Group, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Match Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. Match Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.62%.

Insider Transactions at Match Group

In other Match Group news, President Gary Swidler sold 242,209 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.86, for a total transaction of $7,958,987.74. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 1,690 shares in the company, valued at $55,533.40. This represents a 99.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

About Match Group

Match Group, Inc engages in the provision of dating products. Its portfolio of brands includes Tinder, Hinge, Match, Meetic, OkCupid, Pairs, Plenty Of Fish, Azar, BLK, and Hakuna, as well as a various other brands, each built to increase users' likelihood of connecting with others. Its services are available in over 40 languages to users worldwide.