Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Given Buy Rating at Benchmark

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by Benchmark in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $200.00 price target on the online travel company’s stock. Benchmark’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 18.17% from the company’s previous close.

EXPE has been the subject of a number of other reports. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $135.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Expedia Group from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Expedia Group from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Expedia Group from $137.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Expedia Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $187.00 to $221.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $177.75.

Expedia Group Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Expedia Group stock traded down $0.37 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $169.25. The stock had a trading volume of 43,909 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,546,839. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.82. Expedia Group has a 1 year low of $107.25 and a 1 year high of $192.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $159.28.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The online travel company reported $5.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.42 by ($0.24). Expedia Group had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 49.25%. The business had revenue of $4.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.85 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Expedia Group will post 8.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 7,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.99, for a total value of $1,273,930.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,187 shares in the company, valued at $2,035,922.13. This trade represents a 38.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.15, for a total transaction of $1,851,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 168,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,198,700.75. The trade was a 5.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 18,951 shares of company stock valued at $3,476,610. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Expedia Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXPE. Windacre Partnership LLC raised its stake in Expedia Group by 49.5% during the 3rd quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 4,323,700 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $639,994,000 after acquiring an additional 1,431,500 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 22.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 596,510 shares during the period. Alkeon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 46.3% during the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,576,472 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $233,349,000 after purchasing an additional 498,934 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Expedia Group by 326.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 293,482 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $54,685,000 after purchasing an additional 224,732 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Expedia Group by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,689,485 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $250,078,000 after buying an additional 144,579 shares in the last quarter. 90.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Expedia Group Company Profile

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.