Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Earns Neutral Rating from Wedbush

Wedbush restated their neutral rating on shares of Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) in a research note issued to investors on Friday,RTT News reports. The brokerage currently has a $215.00 target price on the online travel company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $180.00.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Expedia Group from $166.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Expedia Group from $208.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Expedia Group from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. HSBC raised shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $145.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $187.93.

Expedia Group Stock Up 17.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EXPE opened at $202.37 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.97 billion, a PE ratio of 26.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.82. Expedia Group has a 1 year low of $107.25 and a 1 year high of $205.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $182.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $159.92.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last announced its 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 49.25% and a net margin of 7.97%. Analysts predict that Expedia Group will post 8.76 EPS for the current year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%.

Insider Activity at Expedia Group

In related news, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 1,951 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $351,180.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 85,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,345,000. This trade represents a 2.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.99, for a total transaction of $1,273,930.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,187 shares in the company, valued at $2,035,922.13. This represents a 38.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 28,951 shares of company stock worth $5,174,510 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Expedia Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EXPE. Caprock Group LLC boosted its holdings in Expedia Group by 33.7% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 10,191 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $1,508,000 after purchasing an additional 2,569 shares in the last quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Expedia Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,791,000. Cozad Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 16.9% in the third quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,823 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $4,562,000 after buying an additional 4,449 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in Expedia Group by 13.1% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 649,716 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $96,171,000 after acquiring an additional 75,120 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC purchased a new position in Expedia Group in the third quarter worth $527,000. Hedge funds and other 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.