LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Wall Street Zen

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Sunday.

TREE has been the topic of several other research reports. Truist Financial set a $62.00 price target on LendingTree and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Zacks Research lowered LendingTree from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on LendingTree from $66.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer set a $85.00 target price on LendingTree and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of LendingTree in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.86.

LendingTree Price Performance

NASDAQ:TREE opened at $64.00 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.04. The company has a market cap of $871.68 million, a P/E ratio of -15.76 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.26, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.22. LendingTree has a 52-week low of $33.50 and a 52-week high of $77.35.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.47. LendingTree had a positive return on equity of 25.79% and a negative net margin of 5.33%.The firm had revenue of $307.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $278.36 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. The business’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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that LendingTree will post 0.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Jason Bengel sold 6,469 shares of LendingTree stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.86, for a total value of $445,455.34. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 6,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $448,760.62. The trade was a 49.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Heather Enlow-Novitsky sold 1,000 shares of LendingTree stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.14, for a total transaction of $69,140.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 1,028 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,075.92. This represents a 49.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,669 shares of company stock valued at $598,331. 23.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in LendingTree by 272.6% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new position in shares of LendingTree during the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of LendingTree by 25.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in shares of LendingTree by 281.0% during 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 buying an additional 826 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in shares of LendingTree by 11.4% during the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 2,212 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the period. 68.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.