Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Stock Rating Upgraded by HSBC

HSBC upgraded shares of Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $215.00 target price on the online travel company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Expedia Group from $135.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $208.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $135.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Bank of America raised shares of Expedia Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $187.00 to $221.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Melius Research raised shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Expedia Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $187.93.

Expedia Group Price Performance

EXPE stock opened at $202.37 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $182.07 and a 200-day moving average of $159.92. 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 market capitalization of $25.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.82. Expedia Group has a 12 month low of $107.25 and a 12 month high of $205.12.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last released its quarterly 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 7.97% and a return on equity of 49.25%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Expedia Group will post 8.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This is a positive change from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.15, for a total value of $1,851,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 168,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,198,700.75. This trade represents a 5.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.99, for a total transaction of $1,273,930.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 11,187 shares in the company, valued at $2,035,922.13. This represents a 38.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 28,951 shares of company stock worth $5,174,510. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SRH Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Expedia Group in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 676.2% during the 4th quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 163 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Expedia Group by 709.8% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 332 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 291 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Expedia Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Expedia Group in the 4th quarter worth about $72,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.