Vontobel Holding Ltd. Cuts Stake in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lowered its holdings in shares of Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) by 33.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,557 shares of the online travel company’s stock after selling 17,410 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Expedia Group were worth $6,439,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Caprock Group LLC grew its position in shares of Expedia Group by 33.7% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 10,191 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $1,508,000 after purchasing an additional 2,569 shares in the last quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Expedia Group during the fourth quarter worth about $1,791,000. Cozad Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Expedia Group by 16.9% during the third quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,823 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $4,562,000 after purchasing an additional 4,449 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in Expedia Group by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 649,716 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $96,171,000 after buying an additional 75,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC purchased a new position in Expedia Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $527,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Expedia Group news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.15, for a total transaction of $1,851,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 168,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,198,700.75. The trade was a 5.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 1,951 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was 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 approximately $15,345,000. This represents a 2.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,951 shares of company stock valued at $3,900,580. 6.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Expedia Group Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of EXPE stock opened at $202.38 on Friday. Expedia Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $107.25 and a 1-year high of $207.73. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $183.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $162.95. 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 company has a market cap of $25.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.82.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.06 by ($0.22). Expedia Group had a return on equity of 55.42% and a net margin of 9.01%. On average, research analysts expect that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 10.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given 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 0.79%. This is a boost from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Expedia Group from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Expedia Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Expedia Group from $135.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Expedia Group from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $192.64.

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.