Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Thursday.

EXPE has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. Barclays decreased their target price on Expedia Group from $138.00 to $134.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Expedia Group in a report on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Expedia Group in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Benchmark restated a buy rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $149.73.

Expedia Group Price Performance

Shares of EXPE opened at $149.09 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market cap of $20.32 billion, a PE ratio of 27.92, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.79. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $133.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $128.42. Expedia Group has a twelve month low of $92.48 and a twelve month high of $160.05.

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

Insider Transactions at Expedia Group

In other news, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 12,602 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.50, for a total transaction of $1,657,163.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 89,960 shares in the company, valued at $11,829,740. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 12,602 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.50, for a total transaction of $1,657,163.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 89,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,829,740. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,417 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.60, for a total transaction of $729,128.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 84,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,379,487.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Expedia Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. ValueAct Holdings L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Expedia Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $645,346,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Expedia Group by 36.8% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,654,200 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $334,403,000 after purchasing an additional 714,229 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 552,831 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Expedia Group by 1,649.4% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 407,605 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $51,354,000 after purchasing an additional 384,305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 88.8% in the 2nd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 753,260 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $94,903,000 after buying an additional 354,389 shares during the period. 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.