Insider Selling: LendingTree, Inc. (NASDAQ:TREE) CFO Sells 8,750 Shares of Stock

LendingTree, Inc. (NASDAQ:TREE) CFO Trent Ziegler sold 8,750 shares of LendingTree stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.30, for a total transaction of $431,375.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 5 shares in the company, valued at $246.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

LendingTree Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TREE traded down $1.25 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $48.93. The stock had a trading volume of 163,530 shares, compared to its average volume of 300,959. The company has a current ratio of 3.71, a quick ratio of 3.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.80. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $39.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.40. LendingTree, Inc. has a 1 year low of $10.12 and a 1 year high of $52.76. The company has a market capitalization of $647.34 million, a PE ratio of -4.83 and a beta of 2.10.

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.14. LendingTree had a positive return on equity of 1.34% and a negative net margin of 21.07%. The business had revenue of $134.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $135.55 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.53) EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that LendingTree, Inc. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on TREE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of LendingTree from $25.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of LendingTree from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of LendingTree from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of LendingTree from $40.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of LendingTree from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, LendingTree presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.50.

Institutional Trading of LendingTree

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of TREE. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of LendingTree during the 4th quarter worth $252,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in LendingTree by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 90,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,393,000 after acquiring an additional 15,765 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in LendingTree by 26.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 189,846 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,943,000 after acquiring an additional 39,745 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its position in LendingTree by 0.9% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 345,292 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,352,000 after acquiring an additional 2,952 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shenkman Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of LendingTree in the third quarter valued at about $1,860,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.26% of the company’s stock.

LendingTree Company 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.