Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE)

Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors bought 8,389 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 46% compared to the average volume of 5,744 call options.

Insider Transactions at Expedia Group

In related news, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.70, for a total value of $1,028,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 74,502 shares in the company, valued at $15,325,061.40. The trade was a 6.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.15, for a total transaction of $1,851,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 168,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,198,700.75. The trade was a 5.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,000 shares of company stock worth $4,577,900. Company insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Greenleaf Trust raised its position in shares of Expedia Group by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,520 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $470,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Expedia Group by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,980 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $441,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Expedia Group by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 489 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Signet Financial Management LLC raised its position in Expedia Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Signet Financial Management LLC now owns 25,499 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $4,751,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC raised its position in Expedia Group by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 4,149 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $773,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. 90.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on EXPE. Bank of America upgraded shares of Expedia Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $187.00 to $221.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $208.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Expedia Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 15th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.43.

Expedia Group Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:EXPE opened at $173.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $22.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.83. Expedia Group has a 52 week low of $107.25 and a 52 week high of $207.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $183.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $172.51.

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

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Expedia Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.68%.

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.