Citigroup Increases Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Price Target to $217.00

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) had its price objective boosted by Citigroup from $200.00 to $217.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the online travel company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. HSBC upgraded Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Hsbc Global Res raised Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on Expedia Group in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Expedia Group from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Expedia Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Expedia Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.64.

Expedia Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EXPE opened at $197.19 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.31 billion, a PE ratio of 21.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.82. Expedia Group has a fifty-two week low of $107.25 and a fifty-two week high of $207.73. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $182.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $161.36. 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 (NASDAQ:EXPE) last posted 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Expedia Group will post 10.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This is an increase from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.15, for a total transaction of $1,851,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 168,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,198,700.75. This trade represents a 5.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 1,951 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total value of $351,180.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 85,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,345,000. This trade represents a 2.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 28,951 shares of company stock worth $5,174,510. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Expedia Group

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of EXPE. Windacre Partnership LLC raised its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 49.5% during the 3rd quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 4,323,700 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $639,994,000 after buying an additional 1,431,500 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 22.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,250,710 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $481,170,000 after buying an additional 596,510 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,197,927 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $472,212,000 after buying an additional 20,005 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,689,485 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $250,078,000 after buying an additional 144,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 46.3% during 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 buying an additional 498,934 shares in the last quarter. 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.