Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) Stock Now Rated “Hold” by Sell-Side Brokerages

Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the forty analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have issued a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $315.24.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on EXPE shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $309.00 to $288.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $307.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. B. Riley Financial raised their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Expedia Group from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th.

Expedia Group Stock Performance

EXPE traded down $2.92 on Friday, reaching $288.95. The stock had a trading volume of 2,270,707 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,216,882. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $292.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $264.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.21. Expedia Group has a 12-month low of $185.34 and a 12-month high of $342.00. The company has a market cap of $34.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.36.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The online travel company reported $5.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.22 by $0.54. The firm had revenue of $4.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.17 billion. Expedia Group had a return on equity of 87.32% and a net margin of 12.97%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.24 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Expedia Group will post 17.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Expedia Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 27th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 27th. Expedia Group’s payout ratio is presently 11.97%.

Insider Activity at Expedia Group

In other news, Director Craig A. Jacobson sold 3,133 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.52, for a total value of $1,029,253.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 29,832 shares in the company, valued at $9,800,408.64. This represents a 9.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 2,810 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.65, for a total transaction of $909,456.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 12,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,885,741.90. This represents a 18.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,950 shares of company stock valued at $3,881,995. 5.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Expedia Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Expedia Group in the second quarter valued at $166,203,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Expedia Group by 104.1% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,191,528 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $275,112,000 after acquiring an additional 607,698 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Expedia Group by 67.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 780,140 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $199,622,000 after acquiring an additional 314,984 shares in the last quarter. SEB Asset Management AB purchased a new stake in Expedia Group during the first quarter worth about $53,254,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Expedia Group by 150.5% during the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 345,449 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $97,869,000 after purchasing an additional 207,562 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

About Expedia Group

Expedia Group, Inc is an online travel company that connects travelers with a broad range of travel products and services. Its platforms support the search, comparison and booking of lodging, air travel, car rentals, cruises, vacation packages, activities and other travel-related offerings.

The company operates a portfolio of consumer brands that includes Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo, Travelocity, Orbitz, Wotif and ebookers. Through these brands, Expedia Group serves individual travelers, property owners, travel suppliers and business partners across markets in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other international regions.

Expedia Group traces its origins to Expedia, which was established within Microsoft in 1996 and became an independent public company in 1999.