Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Receives “Buy” Rating from Benchmark

Benchmark restated their buy rating on shares of Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a $180.00 target price on the online travel company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lowered shares of Expedia Group from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $156.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Expedia Group from $155.00 to $140.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $175.00 target price on shares of Expedia Group in a report on Monday, April 29th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Expedia Group from $190.00 to $175.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Expedia Group from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $148.08.

Expedia Group Trading Down 15.3 %

Shares of EXPE opened at $115.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.79. Expedia Group has a 52-week low of $87.94 and a 52-week high of $160.05. The firm has a market cap of $15.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.60, a PEG ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.83. The business’s fifty day moving average is $133.81 and its 200-day moving average is $135.45.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The online travel company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.10. Expedia Group had a return on equity of 41.63% and a net margin of 6.18%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.88 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Expedia Group will post 9.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 5,119 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.21, for a total transaction of $702,377.99. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 10,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,492,844.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 8.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Expedia Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXPE. SVB Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 8.9% during the third quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 3,598 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $371,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 35.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 17,303 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $1,783,000 after purchasing an additional 4,505 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its position in Expedia Group by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 80,635 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $8,311,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Expedia Group by 105.2% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 33,257 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $3,428,000 after purchasing an additional 17,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden raised its holdings in Expedia Group by 24.3% during the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 78,200 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $8,060,000 after buying an additional 15,300 shares during the last quarter. 90.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.