Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Upgraded at HSBC

HSBC upgraded shares of Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Friday, MarketBeat reports. HSBC currently has $215.00 price target on the online travel company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on EXPE. DA Davidson increased their target price on Expedia Group from $135.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Expedia Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $187.00 to $221.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Expedia Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $135.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Expedia Group from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Nineteen 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Expedia Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $187.93.

Expedia Group Price Performance

Shares of EXPE stock opened at $202.37 on Friday. Expedia Group has a twelve month low of $107.25 and a twelve month high of $205.12. The company has a market capitalization of $25.97 billion, a PE ratio of 22.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $182.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $160.59.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last announced its earnings results 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Expedia Group will post 10.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a boost 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 presently 17.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Expedia Group news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.79, for a total value of $1,697,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 158,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,912,563.95. The trade was a 5.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 1,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $351,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 85,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,345,000. This trade represents a 2.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,951 shares of company stock worth $5,174,510 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Expedia Group by 33.7% during 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 during the last quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Expedia Group during the fourth quarter worth $1,791,000. Cozad Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 16.9% during 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 during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $96,171,000 after purchasing an additional 75,120 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC purchased a new position in Expedia Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $527,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

Expedia Group Company Profile

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.