Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) Receives $192.64 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirty-three brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have issued a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $192.64.

EXPE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Expedia Group from $168.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up previously from $180.00) on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Expedia Group from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th.

Expedia Group Stock Performance

Shares of EXPE stock opened at $196.91 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The business has a fifty day moving average of $185.12 and a 200 day moving average of $165.21. Expedia Group has a 1 year low of $107.25 and a 1 year high of $207.73.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last issued its 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 52.41% and a net margin of 9.01%. As a group, research analysts expect that Expedia Group will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. This is a boost from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.79, for a total transaction of $1,697,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 158,505 shares in the company, valued at $26,912,563.95. The trade was a 5.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.70, for a total transaction of $1,028,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 74,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,325,061.40. The trade was a 6.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 25,000 shares of company stock worth $4,577,900. Insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Expedia Group

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Greenleaf Trust raised its position in shares of Expedia Group by 2.5% during 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. raised its position in Expedia Group by 2.1% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,980 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $441,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in Expedia Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,754 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $704,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Expedia Group by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 489 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Finally, Venture Visionary Partners LLC raised its position in Expedia Group by 0.6% in 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

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.