D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Sells 15,109 Shares of LendingTree, Inc. (NASDAQ:TREE)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of LendingTree, Inc. (NASDAQ:TREE) by 38.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 15,109 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.18% of LendingTree worth $925,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of LendingTree during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in 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 worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 848 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new position in LendingTree in the 4th quarter worth $54,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co purchased a new position in LendingTree during the fourth quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in LendingTree during the fourth quarter valued at about $70,000. 68.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

LendingTree Stock Performance

TREE opened at $35.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.67, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $475.89 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.02 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a fifty day moving average of $45.07 and a 200 day moving average of $43.62. LendingTree, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.01 and a fifty-two week high of $62.49.

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.25. LendingTree had a negative net margin of 4.72% and a positive return on equity of 0.51%. The business had revenue of $239.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $244.93 million. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that LendingTree, Inc. will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other LendingTree news, COO Scott Peyree bought 21,045 shares of LendingTree stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $41.69 per share, for a total transaction of $877,366.05. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer now directly owns 76,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,200,124.40. This represents a 37.77% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 23.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on LendingTree from $65.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of LendingTree from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of LendingTree from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of LendingTree from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of LendingTree from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, May 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.13.

LendingTree Profile

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.