Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE)

Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors bought 8,389 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 46% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,744 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Expedia Group news, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.70, for a total value of $1,028,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 74,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,325,061.40. This trade represents a 6.29 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.79, for a total transaction of $1,697,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly 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. Insiders have sold a total of 25,000 shares of company stock worth $4,577,900 in the last 90 days. 6.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Expedia Group

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in shares of Expedia Group by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 30,744 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $5,729,000 after purchasing an additional 4,656 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Expedia Group by 33.7% in 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 during the period. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Expedia Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,791,000. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC bought a new position in shares of Expedia Group in the third quarter worth approximately $527,000. Finally, Clare Market Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Expedia Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $319,000. 90.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Expedia Group in a report on Friday, February 7th. Melius Research raised shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. HSBC raised shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Melius raised shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Expedia Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $193.43.

Expedia Group Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of EXPE stock opened at $173.81 on Friday. Expedia Group has a 12 month low of $107.25 and a 12 month high of $207.73. The stock has a market cap of $22.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.51.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Expedia Group will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current 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 $0.40 dividend. This is a positive change from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Expedia Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.68%.

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.