Benchmark Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE)

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Benchmark in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $180.00 price target on the online travel company’s stock. Benchmark’s price target points to a potential upside of 46.53% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on EXPE. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Expedia Group in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $158.00 to $138.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $155.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. HSBC lowered their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $166.00 to $132.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Wedbush lowered their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $148.12.

Expedia Group Stock Performance

Expedia Group stock traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $122.84. The company had a trading volume of 85,695 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,498,234. The firm has a market cap of $16.74 billion, a PE ratio of 23.00, a PEG ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.93, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Expedia Group has a one year low of $92.48 and a one year high of $160.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $120.85 and a 200 day moving average of $134.27.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The online travel company reported ($0.39) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.96) by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.80 billion. Expedia Group had a net margin of 6.18% and a return on equity of 41.63%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Expedia Group will post 9.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Expedia Group

In other Expedia Group news, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 544 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.38, for a total value of $61,678.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,268,382.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 544 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.38, for a total transaction of $61,678.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,268,382.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Craig A. Jacobson sold 6,722 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.71, for a total transaction of $757,636.62. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 32,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,676,600.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 8.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. purchased a new position in Expedia Group during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Expedia Group by 4,525.0% during the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 185 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. City State Bank boosted its stake in Expedia Group by 157.3% in the fourth quarter. City State Bank now owns 193 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Expedia Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Expedia Group in the first quarter valued at about $40,000. 90.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.