Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on EXPE. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Expedia Group from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $370.00 target price on Expedia Group in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Argus upped their target price on Expedia Group from $270.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on Expedia Group from $334.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $315.24.

Expedia Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXPE opened at $268.47 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.21. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $295.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $263.22. The company has a market cap of $32.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.36. Expedia Group has a 12 month low of $185.34 and a 12 month high of $342.00.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The online travel company reported $5.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.22 by $0.54. Expedia Group had a return on equity of 87.32% and a net margin of 12.97%. The company had revenue of $4.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.17 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.24 earnings per share. Expedia Group’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Expedia Group will post 17.26 EPS 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 paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 27th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Expedia Group’s payout ratio is presently 11.97%.

Insider Activity at Expedia Group

In other Expedia Group news, Director Craig A. Jacobson sold 3,133 shares of Expedia Group 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 transaction, the director directly owned 29,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,800,408.64. The trade was a 9.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 1,004 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total transaction of $336,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 104,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,950,885. This trade represents a 0.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,950 shares of company stock valued at $3,881,995. 5.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Expedia Group

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its stake in Expedia Group by 0.6% during the second quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 5,270 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $1,348,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Expedia Group by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,305 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $301,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Expedia Group by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 1,535 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $404,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Expedia Group by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 1,628 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its stake in Expedia Group by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 7,389 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $1,706,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. 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.