Jones Financial Companies Lllp Boosts Stock Position in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) by 53.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,870 shares of the online travel company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,696 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Expedia Group were worth $907,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXPE. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in Expedia Group by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 30,744 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $5,729,000 after buying an additional 4,656 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,569 shares during the period. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Expedia Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,791,000. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC purchased a new stake in Expedia Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $527,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Expedia Group by 22.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,250,710 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $481,170,000 after buying an additional 596,510 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.70, for a total value of $1,028,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 74,502 shares in the company, valued at $15,325,061.40. This represents a 6.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 158,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,912,563.95. This trade represents a 5.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,000 shares of company stock worth $4,577,900 over the last 90 days. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on EXPE. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Expedia Group from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. HSBC upgraded Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Expedia Group in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Expedia Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 15th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.64.

Expedia Group Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:EXPE opened at $184.33 on Friday. Expedia Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $107.25 and a 1 year high of $207.73. The stock has a market cap of $23.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.83. The business has a fifty day moving average of $187.09 and a 200-day moving average of $170.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.06 by ($0.22). Expedia Group had a return on equity of 52.41% and a net margin of 9.01%. Equities analysts predict that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 0.87%. Expedia Group’s dividend payout ratio is 17.68%.

Expedia Group 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.