Needham & Company LLC Issues Pessimistic Forecast for LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) Stock Price

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) had its price target cut by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $65.00 to $62.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 43.45% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of LendingTree from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Northland Capmk raised shares of LendingTree from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Northland Securities upgraded shares of LendingTree from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on LendingTree from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded LendingTree from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.38.

LendingTree Trading Down 20.1 %

Shares of TREE stock opened at $43.22 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $46.90 and a 200-day moving average of $45.20. The stock has a market cap of $584.98 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.01 and a beta of 1.76. LendingTree has a 52-week low of $34.55 and a 52-week high of $62.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.67, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92.

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $239.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $244.93 million. LendingTree had a negative net margin of 4.72% and a positive return on equity of 0.51%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that LendingTree will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other LendingTree news, COO Scott Peyree purchased 9,794 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $46.13 per share, with a total value of $451,797.22. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 97,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,500,719.58. This represents a 11.16 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 23.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in LendingTree in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in shares of LendingTree by 248.0% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 848 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of LendingTree in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $54,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co acquired a new position in LendingTree during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in LendingTree during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $70,000. 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.