LendingTree, Inc. (NASDAQ:TREE) Short Interest Update

LendingTree, Inc. (NASDAQ:TREE) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 311,300 shares, a drop of 22.4% from the August 15th total of 401,200 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 186,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days. Currently, 2.9% of the company’s shares are sold short.

LendingTree Price Performance

Shares of TREE opened at $57.27 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $763.98 million, a P/E ratio of -5.52 and a beta of 2.12. LendingTree has a twelve month low of $10.12 and a twelve month high of $62.27. The company has a 50 day moving average of $51.28 and a 200-day moving average of $45.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21.

LendingTree (NASDAQ:TREE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.19). The business had revenue of $210.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $187.41 million. LendingTree had a negative return on equity of 2.98% and a negative net margin of 19.02%. LendingTree’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that LendingTree will post -0.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On LendingTree

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in LendingTree by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 227,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,892,000 after purchasing an additional 11,753 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in LendingTree by 20.6% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 44,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,337,000 after acquiring an additional 7,528 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in LendingTree by 31.3% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 17,367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $527,000 after acquiring an additional 4,144 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in LendingTree during the fourth quarter worth about $1,240,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP raised its stake in LendingTree by 51.9% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 57,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,758,000 after acquiring an additional 19,814 shares in the last quarter. 68.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on TREE. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of LendingTree from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of LendingTree from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of LendingTree from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of LendingTree from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Northland Securities raised their target price on shares of LendingTree from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.13.

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.