Stephens Reiterates Overweight Rating for LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE)

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating restated by investment analysts at Stephens in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $69.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock. Stephens’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 45.40% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Northland Securities upgraded LendingTree from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on LendingTree from $78.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Northland Capmk upgraded LendingTree from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on LendingTree from $73.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded LendingTree from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $65.43.

LendingTree Stock Up 17.8 %

LendingTree stock opened at $47.45 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $634.08 million, a PE ratio of -17.22 and a beta of 2.07. 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 has a one year low of $33.58 and a one year high of $62.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $42.02 and a 200 day moving average of $47.78.

Insider Activity at LendingTree

In related news, CEO Douglas R. Lebda purchased 13,000 shares of LendingTree stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $39.72 per share, with a total value of $516,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,829,912.28. The trade was a 11.97 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Scott V. Totman purchased 3,750 shares of LendingTree stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $38.59 per share, with a total value of $144,712.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 18,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,029.28. This represents a 25.97 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 23.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in TREE. Creative Planning bought a new position in shares of LendingTree in the 3rd quarter worth $356,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of LendingTree in the 3rd quarter worth $203,000. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC bought a new position in shares of LendingTree in the 3rd quarter worth $3,651,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in LendingTree during the 3rd quarter worth $1,612,000. Finally, Intellectus Partners LLC grew its stake in LendingTree by 58.2% during the 3rd quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 19,375 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,124,000 after buying an additional 7,125 shares during the last quarter. 68.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.