Expedia Group’s (EXPE) Neutral Rating Reiterated at Wedbush

Wedbush reaffirmed their neutral rating on shares of Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) in a report published on Friday,RTT News reports. Wedbush currently has a $215.00 price target on the online travel company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $180.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. 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. Melius raised shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Expedia Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Baird R W upgraded Expedia Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $187.93.

Expedia Group Trading Up 17.3 %

Shares of EXPE opened at $202.37 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $182.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $160.59. The company has a market cap of $25.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a P/E/G 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. Expedia Group has a twelve month low of $107.25 and a twelve month high of $205.12.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 55.42% and a net margin of 9.01%. As a group, analysts expect that Expedia Group will post 10.75 EPS for the current year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. Expedia Group’s payout ratio is presently 17.68%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 168,505 shares in the company, valued at $31,198,700.75. This represents a 5.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.99, for a total transaction of $1,273,930.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,187 shares in the company, valued at $2,035,922.13. The trade was a 38.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 28,951 shares of company stock valued at $5,174,510. Company insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Expedia Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Expedia Group by 43.0% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 69,596 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $12,968,000 after acquiring an additional 20,925 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Expedia Group by 1,632.1% in the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 104,653 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $19,500,000 after buying an additional 98,611 shares during the last quarter. Clare Market Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Expedia Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $319,000. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 2,370 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $442,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Expedia Group by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,236 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $3,398,000 after acquiring an additional 926 shares in the last quarter. 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.