Citigroup Issues Positive Forecast for Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Stock Price

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) had its price target increased by Citigroup from $200.00 to $217.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the online travel company’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Melius upgraded shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $210.00 target price (up from $180.00) on shares of Expedia Group in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $135.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Expedia Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $187.00 to $221.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.64.

Expedia Group Stock Down 2.9 %

Expedia Group stock opened at $197.19 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $25.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.79, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.82. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $182.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $161.36. Expedia Group has a fifty-two week low of $107.25 and a fifty-two week high of $207.73.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 earnings per share (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 55.42%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Expedia Group will post 10.75 EPS for the current year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 1,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total value of $351,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 85,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,345,000. This represents a 2.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.79, for a total value of $1,697,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 158,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,912,563.95. This represents a 5.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 28,951 shares of company stock valued at $5,174,510. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SRH Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Expedia Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Grove Bank & Trust increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Expedia Group by 709.8% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 332 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Expedia Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Expedia Group by 75.5% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 272 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. 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.