Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) Position Trimmed by Aurora Investment Counsel

Aurora Investment Counsel reduced its stake in shares of Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) by 44.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,691 shares of the online travel company’s stock after selling 4,531 shares during the quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings in Expedia Group were worth $1,060,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Windacre Partnership LLC lifted its stake in Expedia Group by 49.5% during the third quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 4,323,700 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $639,994,000 after purchasing an additional 1,431,500 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Expedia Group by 22.5% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,250,710 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $481,170,000 after acquiring an additional 596,510 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Expedia Group by 0.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,197,927 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $472,212,000 after buying an additional 20,005 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Expedia Group by 9.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,689,485 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $250,078,000 after purchasing an additional 144,579 shares during the period. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Expedia Group by 46.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,576,472 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $233,349,000 after acquiring an additional 498,934 shares during the period. 90.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Expedia Group Price Performance

Shares of EXPE opened at $157.11 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $185.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $171.29. The company has a market capitalization of $20.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.82. Expedia Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $107.25 and a fifty-two week high of $207.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by ($0.22). Expedia Group had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 52.41%. Research analysts predict that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. This is a boost from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Expedia Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Expedia Group

In related news, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.70, for a total transaction of $1,028,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 74,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,325,061.40. The trade was a 6.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.79, for a total value of $1,697,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 158,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,912,563.95. This trade represents a 5.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 25,000 shares of company stock worth $4,577,900. 6.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on EXPE. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Expedia Group from $163.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Expedia Group from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $210.00 target price (up previously from $180.00) on shares of Expedia Group in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Expedia Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.61.

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.