HighTower Advisors LLC Grows Position in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE)

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) by 43.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,596 shares of the online travel company’s stock after buying an additional 20,925 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Expedia Group were worth $12,968,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Windacre Partnership LLC grew its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 49.5% in the third quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 4,323,700 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $639,994,000 after purchasing 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 third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,250,710 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $481,170,000 after purchasing an additional 596,510 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 0.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,197,927 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $472,212,000 after purchasing an additional 20,005 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 9.4% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,689,485 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $250,078,000 after purchasing an additional 144,579 shares during the period. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 46.3% in the third 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

Expedia Group Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EXPE opened at $162.11 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $184.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $171.90. The stock has a market cap of $20.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.83. Expedia Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $107.25 and a fifty-two week high of $207.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

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

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This is a positive change from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. Expedia Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EXPE. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective (up previously from $180.00) on shares of Expedia Group in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $166.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Expedia Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Bank of America raised shares of Expedia Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $187.00 to $221.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Expedia Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. Nineteen 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Expedia Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $193.61.

Insider Buying and Selling at Expedia Group

In other Expedia Group news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.15, for a total value of $1,851,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 168,505 shares in the company, valued at $31,198,700.75. This represents a 5.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 74,502 shares in the company, valued at $15,325,061.40. This represents a 6.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,000 shares of company stock worth $4,577,900 over the last three months. Insiders own 6.80% 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.