BMO Capital Markets Issues Positive Forecast for Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Stock Price

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) had its price objective hoisted by BMO Capital Markets from $165.00 to $190.00 in a report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the online travel company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Baird R W raised shares of Expedia Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $135.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com cut Expedia Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Expedia Group from $166.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $190.07.

Expedia Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EXPE opened at $203.00 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $182.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $160.81. Expedia Group has a 52-week low of $107.25 and a 52-week high of $207.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.82.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 55.42% and a net margin of 9.01%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Expedia Group will post 10.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This is an increase from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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 $26,912,563.95. This trade represents a 5.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.99, for a total value of $1,273,930.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,951 shares of company stock worth $5,174,510 over the last ninety days. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Expedia Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EXPE. Greenleaf Trust increased its stake in Expedia Group by 2.5% in 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 during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC increased its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,754 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $704,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 489 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venture Visionary Partners LLC boosted its position in Expedia Group by 0.6% during the third quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 11,367 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $1,683,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. 90.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.