StockNews.com Lowers Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) to Buy

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning.

EXPE has been the topic of several other research reports. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Expedia Group in a research report on Friday, September 6th. They set a “hold” rating and a $148.00 price target on the stock. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.54.

Expedia Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ EXPE opened at $158.39 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.79. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $144.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $131.07. Expedia Group has a 1 year low of $92.48 and a 1 year high of $164.65.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The online travel company reported $3.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.17 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. Expedia Group had a net margin of 6.09% and a return on equity of 47.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.34 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Expedia Group will post 8.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.21, for a total transaction of $1,502,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 208,505 shares in the company, valued at $31,319,536.05. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.21, for a total transaction of $1,502,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 208,505 shares in the company, valued at $31,319,536.05. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,417 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.60, for a total transaction of $729,128.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 84,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,379,487.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,019 shares of company stock worth $5,390,191 over the last three months. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Expedia Group by 36.8% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,654,200 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $334,403,000 after purchasing an additional 714,229 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Expedia Group by 14.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,054,485 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $132,851,000 after acquiring an additional 135,973 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in Expedia Group by 3.1% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 971,327 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $133,800,000 after acquiring an additional 29,294 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its position in Expedia Group by 88.8% in the second quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 753,260 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $94,903,000 after acquiring an additional 354,389 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in Expedia Group by 414.4% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 686,244 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $94,512,000 after acquiring an additional 552,831 shares during the period. 90.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.