Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Raised to Buy at HSBC

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) was upgraded by stock analysts at HSBC from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm currently has a $215.00 target price on the online travel company’s stock. HSBC’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 24.59% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $145.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Expedia Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Expedia Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $135.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $137.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.71.

Expedia Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ EXPE opened at $172.57 on Friday. Expedia Group has a 1 year low of $107.25 and a 1 year high of $192.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market cap of $22.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.21, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $182.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $159.83.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.06 by ($0.22). Expedia Group had a return on equity of 49.25% and a net margin of 7.97%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Expedia Group will post 8.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Expedia Group

In related news, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 1,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total value of $351,180.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 85,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,345,000. This trade represents a 2.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.99, for a total transaction of $1,273,930.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,187 shares in the company, valued at $2,035,922.13. This represents a 38.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 28,951 shares of company stock valued at $5,174,510 over the last three months. 6.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Greenleaf Trust grew its position in Expedia Group by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,520 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $470,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Expedia Group by 2.1% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,980 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $441,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in Expedia Group by 1.3% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,754 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $704,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Expedia Group by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 489 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venture Visionary Partners LLC grew its position in Expedia Group by 0.6% during the third quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 11,367 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $1,683,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. 90.76% of the stock is currently 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.