Expedia Group’s (EXPE) “Neutral” Rating Reiterated at Wedbush

Wedbush reissued their neutral rating on shares of Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) in a report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has a $130.00 target price on the online travel company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Ascendiant Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $133.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $115.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Bank of America lowered shares of Expedia Group from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $156.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $149.12.

Expedia Group Price Performance

Shares of EXPE stock opened at $129.00 on Thursday. Expedia Group has a 52-week low of $87.94 and a 52-week high of $160.05. The stock has a market cap of $17.58 billion, a PE ratio of 23.98, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $134.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $132.95.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The online travel company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.10. Expedia Group had a net margin of 6.21% and a return on equity of 35.79%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.88 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Expedia Group will post 9.74 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.04, for a total transaction of $1,500,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 216,521 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,486,810.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.04, for a total transaction of $1,500,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 216,521 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,486,810.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 5,119 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.21, for a total transaction of $702,377.99. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 10,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,492,844.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EXPE. ValueAct Holdings L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Expedia Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $645,346,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Expedia Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $334,632,000. Capital Wealth Alliance LLC acquired a new position in shares of Expedia Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $12,058,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Expedia Group by 187.1% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,921,028 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $375,888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,251,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Expedia Group by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,147,624 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $3,159,605,000 after purchasing an additional 741,856 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

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.