Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Friday.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Expedia Group from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Expedia Group from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $215.00 target price (up previously from $180.00) on shares of Expedia Group in a research report on Friday. Bank of America raised shares of Expedia Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $187.00 to $221.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Expedia Group in a report on Friday. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Expedia Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $187.93.

Expedia Group Stock Performance

Shares of EXPE stock opened at $202.37 on Friday. Expedia Group has a fifty-two week low of $107.25 and a fifty-two week high of $205.12. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $182.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $160.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market cap of $25.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.82.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.06 by ($0.22). Expedia Group had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 55.42%. Analysts predict that Expedia Group will post 10.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This is a positive change from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. Expedia Group’s payout ratio is currently 17.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Expedia Group

In other Expedia Group news, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 1,951 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total value of $351,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 85,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,345,000. The trade was a 2.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.15, for a total value of $1,851,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 168,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,198,700.75. This represents a 5.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 28,951 shares of company stock worth $5,174,510 over the last three months. Company insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Caprock Group LLC increased its position in Expedia Group by 33.7% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 10,191 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $1,508,000 after acquiring an additional 2,569 shares in the last quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Expedia Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,791,000. Cozad Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 16.9% in the third quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,823 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $4,562,000 after purchasing an additional 4,449 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in Expedia Group by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 649,716 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $96,171,000 after purchasing an additional 75,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC acquired a new position in Expedia Group during the 3rd quarter worth $527,000. 90.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Expedia Group

Expedia Group, Inc operates as an online travel company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through B2C, B2B, and trivago segments. Its B2C segment includes Brand Expedia, a full-service online travel brand offers various travel products and services; Hotels.com for lodging accommodations; Vrbo, an online marketplace for the alternative accommodations; Orbitz, Travelocity, Wotif Group, ebookers, CheapTickets, Hotwire.com and CarRentals.com.