Douglas Lebda, CEO at
LendingTree (TREE), recently added 18,268 shares. The buy increased his holdings by just over 1 percent, and came to a total cost just over $705,000.
The purchase comes a week after the CEO bought 65,062 shares, paying just over $2.08 million. Going further back, some insiders have been sellers over the past year, and a company director has been a repeat buyer of LendingTree stock.
Overall, insiders own 14.9 percent of the company.
Shares of the lending platform have lost about two-thirds of their price over the past year. A slowing economy and rising interest rates have cut into lending activity, the company’s core business. That’s reflected by a 20 percent drop in revenue and a lack of earnings.
Action to take: Shares have started to trend up in recent weeks, and are more than double off of their lows. A further move higher could still lead to big returns, given that the stock traded for over $100 a year ago. At the moment, the stock doesn’t pay a dividend.
For traders, the April $50 calls, last going for about $4.00, can likely deliver mid-to-high double-digit returns in the coming months. The option is about 10 percent out-of-the-money right now, so it plays well to the current uptrend in shares underway.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any of the companies mentioned in this article.