Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH) Lowered to “Equal Weight” at Morgan Stanley

Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH) was downgraded by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $37.00 target price on the technology company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $53.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 14.62% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on MTCH. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Match Group from $32.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Raymond James initiated coverage on shares of Match Group in a report on Thursday, April 4th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Match Group from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Match Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Match Group in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.95.

Match Group Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ MTCH opened at $32.28 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.16, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.41. Match Group has a 52 week low of $27.85 and a 52 week high of $49.24. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $35.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.87.

Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $866.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $861.31 million. Match Group had a net margin of 19.36% and a negative return on equity of 313.95%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.30 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Match Group will post 2.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Match Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MTCH. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Match Group by 107,412.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,731,116 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $984,604,000 after purchasing an additional 23,709,043 shares during the period. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Match Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $276,406,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Match Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $112,903,000. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in shares of Match Group by 17,295.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 2,155,632 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $78,678,000 after purchasing an additional 2,143,240 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Match Group by 34.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,275,015 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $324,174,000 after purchasing an additional 2,130,646 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.05% of the company’s stock.

About Match Group

Match Group, Inc engages in the provision of dating products. Its portfolio of brands includes Tinder, Hinge, Match, Meetic, OkCupid, Pairs, Plenty Of Fish, Azar, BLK, and Hakuna, as well as a various other brands, each built to increase users' likelihood of connecting with others. Its services are available in over 40 languages to users worldwide.