Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Price Target Raised to $217.00

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) had its price target upped by Citigroup from $200.00 to $217.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the online travel company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on EXPE. Melius Research raised shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Expedia Group from $137.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $215.00 target price (up from $180.00) on shares of Expedia Group in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.64.

Expedia Group Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Expedia Group stock opened at $203.20 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $183.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $162.15. Expedia Group has a fifty-two week low of $107.25 and a fifty-two week high of $207.73. The firm has a market cap of $26.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.82.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last released its 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 55.42% and a net margin of 9.01%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Expedia Group will post 10.75 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a positive change from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. 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%. Expedia Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.68%.

Insider Activity at Expedia Group

In related news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director now directly owns 168,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,198,700.75. This trade represents a 5.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 1,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,951 shares of company stock worth $3,900,580. Company insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Expedia Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EXPE. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Expedia Group by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,865 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $1,164,000 after purchasing an additional 849 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Expedia Group by 1,353.9% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,105 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $164,000 after acquiring an additional 1,029 shares during the last quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 91,981 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $13,615,000 after acquiring an additional 2,709 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 5.2% in the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 13,163 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $1,948,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the period. 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.