Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $4.96 Million Stake in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE)

Retirement Systems of Alabama decreased its position in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,592 shares of the online travel company’s stock after selling 505 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Expedia Group were worth $4,955,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 676.2% during the fourth quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 163 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 709.8% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 332 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Expedia Group during the third quarter worth approximately $51,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted 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 during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 299.3% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 559 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 419 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Expedia Group from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America upgraded Expedia Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $187.00 to $221.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Expedia Group from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Expedia Group from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Melius upgraded 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. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $190.07.

Expedia Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ EXPE opened at $203.00 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.43, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.82. Expedia Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $107.25 and a twelve month high of $207.73. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $182.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $160.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 EPS 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 55.42%. Sell-side analysts expect that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 10.75 EPS for the current year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Expedia Group

In other Expedia Group news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the director now owns 168,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,198,700.75. This represents a 5.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 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. This trade represents a 38.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,951 shares of company stock valued at $5,174,510. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.