Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Friday morning.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on EXPE. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Expedia Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $130.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $138.00 to $134.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $144.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.54.

Expedia Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EXPE opened at $161.11 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.77, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.78. The business has a 50 day moving average of $147.19 and a 200 day moving average of $132.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.45, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Expedia Group has a 1-year low of $107.25 and a 1-year high of $164.65.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The online travel company reported $3.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.17 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $3.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. Expedia Group had a net margin of 6.09% and a return on equity of 47.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.34 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Expedia Group will post 8.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Expedia Group news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.21, for a total value of $1,502,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 208,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,319,536.05. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,417 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.60, for a total value of $729,128.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 84,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,379,487.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.21, for a total transaction of $1,502,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 208,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,319,536.05. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 48,019 shares of company stock valued at $6,958,891 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Expedia Group

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Venture Visionary Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Expedia Group by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 11,367 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $1,683,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in Expedia Group by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 24,351 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $3,354,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 1,601 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,028 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AdvisorShares Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC now owns 1,517 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $186,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

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.