Proficio Capital Partners LLC Invests $704,000 in Match Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTCH)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Match Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:MTCH) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 21,523 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $704,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Match Group by 37.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,486,837 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $81,344,000 after buying an additional 683,132 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its stake in shares of Match Group by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 70,102 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,293,000 after buying an additional 8,900 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch SE increased its stake in shares of Match Group by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 734,395 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $24,022,000 after buying an additional 62,900 shares during the period. Advyzon Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Match Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $386,000. Finally, Truist Financial Corp acquired a new stake in Match Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $250,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MTCH shares. UBS Group cut their price target on Match Group from $38.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Match Group from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Match Group from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI lowered Match Group from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and set a $35.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, BTIG Research lowered Match Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Match Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President Gary Swidler sold 242,209 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.86, for a total value of $7,958,987.74. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 1,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,533.40. This represents a 99.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.77% of the company’s stock.

Match Group Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of MTCH opened at $32.62 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $8.17 billion, a PE ratio of 16.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $33.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.36. Match Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $38.84.

Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 predict that Match Group, Inc. will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Match Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. Match Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.62%.

Match Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 19% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Match Group Company Profile

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.