DA Davidson Issues Positive Forecast for Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Stock Price

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) had its price objective raised by DA Davidson from $190.00 to $205.00 in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the online travel company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $137.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Melius Research raised Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Expedia Group from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on Expedia Group from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $187.93.

Expedia Group Stock Up 17.3 %

Shares of Expedia Group stock opened at $202.37 on Friday. Expedia Group has a 1 year low of $107.25 and a 1 year high of $205.12. The company has a market cap of $25.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $182.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $159.92.

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 49.25% and a net margin of 7.97%. As a group, analysts expect that Expedia Group will post 8.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. This is a positive change from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 1,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total value of $351,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 85,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,345,000. This represents a 2.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 158,505 shares in the company, valued at $26,912,563.95. This represents a 5.93 % 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 three months. 6.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Expedia Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in Expedia Group by 43.0% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 69,596 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $12,968,000 after acquiring an additional 20,925 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 1,632.1% in the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 104,653 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $19,500,000 after purchasing an additional 98,611 shares during the period. Clare Market Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Expedia Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $319,000. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its position in shares of Expedia Group by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 2,370 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $442,000 after buying an additional 497 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in Expedia Group by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 18,236 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $3,398,000 after buying an additional 926 shares in the last quarter. 90.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.