GraniteShares Advisors LLC Sells 1,298 Shares of Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE)

GraniteShares Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) by 30.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,985 shares of the online travel company’s stock after selling 1,298 shares during the period. GraniteShares Advisors LLC’s holdings in Expedia Group were worth $556,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in EXPE. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Expedia Group by 296.3% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 860 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 643 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Expedia Group by 23.9% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,403 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Expedia Group in the third quarter valued at about $9,181,000. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in Expedia Group by 14.7% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,860 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $275,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the period. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden grew its stake in Expedia Group by 26.6% in the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 42,300 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $6,261,000 after acquiring an additional 8,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on EXPE shares. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Expedia Group from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $215.00 target price (up from $180.00) on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Baird R W raised Expedia Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays boosted their target price on Expedia Group from $166.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Expedia Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.64.

Expedia Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EXPE opened at $199.76 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $25.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.07, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.82. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $167.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. Expedia Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $107.25 and a 1-year high of $207.73.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.06 by ($0.22). Expedia Group had a return on equity of 52.41% and a net margin of 9.01%. Research analysts anticipate that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This is a boost from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Expedia Group’s payout ratio is currently 17.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Expedia Group

In other Expedia Group news, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.70, for a total value of $1,028,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 74,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,325,061.40. The trade was a 6.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 158,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,912,563.95. This represents a 5.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,000 shares of company stock valued at $4,577,900 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

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.