Expedia Group’s (EXPE) “Neutral” Rating Reaffirmed at Wedbush

Wedbush restated their neutral rating on shares of Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,RTT News reports. They currently have a $215.00 price objective on the online travel company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $180.00.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on EXPE. Baird R W raised shares of Expedia Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price target (up previously from $220.00) on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Expedia Group from $208.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Expedia Group from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America raised Expedia Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $187.00 to $221.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Expedia Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $187.93.

Expedia Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:EXPE opened at $202.37 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $182.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $160.59. The stock has a market cap of $25.97 billion, a PE ratio of 22.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.73. Expedia Group has a one year low of $107.25 and a one year high of $205.12.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Expedia Group will post 10.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Expedia Group’s dividend payout ratio is 17.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.79, for a total value of $1,697,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 158,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,912,563.95. The trade was a 5.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 1,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $351,180.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 85,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,345,000. The trade was a 2.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,951 shares of company stock valued at $5,174,510 over the last quarter. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Expedia Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Windacre Partnership LLC grew its position in Expedia Group by 49.5% during the third quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 4,323,700 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $639,994,000 after buying an additional 1,431,500 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 22.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,250,710 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $481,170,000 after acquiring an additional 596,510 shares during the period. Alkeon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Expedia Group by 46.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,576,472 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $233,349,000 after purchasing an additional 498,934 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Expedia Group by 326.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 293,482 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $54,685,000 after purchasing an additional 224,732 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Expedia Group by 9.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,689,485 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $250,078,000 after purchasing an additional 144,579 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

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.