Match Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTCH) Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in Match Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTCH - Free Report) by 40.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 619,393 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 419,664 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.25% of Match Group worth $20,260,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MTCH. HSBC lowered Match Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Match Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Match Group from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Match Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Match Group from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.58.

Match Group Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ MTCH traded up $0.37 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $29.02. 3,561,208 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,938,093. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $31.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.01. The company has a market capitalization of $7.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.49. Match Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $26.39 and a 52-week high of $38.84.

Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Match Group, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Match Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. Match Group's payout ratio is currently 37.62%.

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.