Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH) Price Target to $31.00

Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH) had its price target lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research note released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the technology company’s stock.

MTCH has been the subject of several other reports. HSBC cut Match Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Match Group in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Match Group from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Match Group from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded Match Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.63.

Match Group Stock Down 4.4 %

Shares of Match Group stock traded down $1.29 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $27.90. The company had a trading volume of 1,930,239 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,950,700. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.34. The stock has a market cap of $6.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.74, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.49. Match Group has a 12-month low of $26.39 and a 12-month high of $38.84.

Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.22). Match Group had a negative return on equity of 574.22% and a net margin of 15.84%. As a group, analysts expect that Match Group will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Match Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Match Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.62%.

Match Group declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 19% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Match Group

In other Match Group news, President Gary Swidler sold 242,209 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.86, for a total value of $7,958,987.74. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 1,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,533.40. This represents a 99.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Match Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MTCH. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Match Group by 94.3% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 59,510 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,947,000 after buying an additional 28,884 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Match Group by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,475,636 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $211,818,000 after purchasing an additional 939,078 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Match Group by 56.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,390,194 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $78,733,000 after purchasing an additional 866,026 shares during the last quarter. Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. raised its stake in Match Group by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. now owns 478,913 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $15,665,000 after purchasing an additional 8,414 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Match Group by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,667,907 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $87,267,000 after purchasing an additional 69,947 shares during the last quarter. 94.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.