LendingTree, Inc. $TREE Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its stake in LendingTree, Inc. (NASDAQ:TREE) by 41.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 93,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 65,097 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in LendingTree were worth $4,024,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of LendingTree during the fourth quarter valued at $31,120,000. Evolve Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in LendingTree in the 1st quarter worth about $619,000. UBS Group AG boosted its position in LendingTree by 374.2% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 143,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,641,000 after acquiring an additional 113,574 shares during the period. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in LendingTree during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,423,000. Finally, Mariner LLC grew its stake in LendingTree by 31.5% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 1,760,407 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $93,461,000 after acquiring an additional 421,826 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.26% of the company’s stock.

LendingTree Trading Up 5.1%

Shares of NASDAQ TREE opened at $42.76 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.30. LendingTree, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.65 and a 52 week high of $77.35. The stock has a market cap of $596.50 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a current ratio of 1.89.

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $319.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $321.32 million. LendingTree had a net margin of 15.02% and a return on equity of 17.01%. LendingTree’s revenue was up 36.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that LendingTree, Inc. will post 3.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on TREE. Zacks Research upgraded LendingTree from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of LendingTree in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of LendingTree from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of LendingTree from $83.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $78.00 target price on shares of LendingTree in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, LendingTree currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $68.60.

LendingTree Profile

LendingTree, Inc operates an online marketplace that connects consumers with a network of lenders and financial service providers. Through its platform, borrowers can compare loan offers for mortgages, home equity loans, personal loans, student loans, auto loans and small business financing. The company also offers tools for comparing credit cards and deposit accounts, allowing users to research rates and terms from a range of providers in one place.

Founded in 1996 by Doug Lebda, LendingTree pioneered the comparison-shopping model for consumer credit products.