Short Interest in LendingTree, Inc. (NASDAQ:TREE) Decreases By 42.0%

LendingTree, Inc. (NASDAQ:TREE) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 678,300 shares, a decline of 42.0% from the December 15th total of 1,170,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 312,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days. Approximately 6.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on TREE shares. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of LendingTree from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of LendingTree from $67.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of LendingTree from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Truist Financial raised their target price on LendingTree from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on LendingTree from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at LendingTree

In other LendingTree news, CTO Scott V. Totman acquired 3,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 purchase, the chief technology officer now directly owns 18,192 shares in the company, valued at $702,029.28. The trade was a 25.97 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Heather Enlow-Novitsky sold 564 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.54, for a total value of $29,632.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 23.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On LendingTree

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TREE. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC bought a new stake in LendingTree during the third quarter valued at $3,651,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of LendingTree by 25.0% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 292,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,182,000 after acquiring an additional 58,500 shares during the period. Walleye Capital LLC raised its holdings in LendingTree by 118.0% during the third quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 7,770 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $451,000 after purchasing an additional 50,910 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in LendingTree in the third quarter worth approximately $1,612,000. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new position in LendingTree during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,045,000. 68.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

LendingTree Stock Performance

NASDAQ TREE opened at $36.76 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $491.19 million, a P/E ratio of -13.61 and a beta of 2.06. LendingTree has a 1-year low of $24.55 and a 1-year high of $62.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

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.