National Pension Service Cuts Stock Holdings in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE)

National Pension Service trimmed its position in shares of Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) by 9.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 236,890 shares of the online travel company’s stock after selling 24,591 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.18% of Expedia Group worth $44,140,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EXPE. Windacre Partnership LLC grew its stake in Expedia Group by 49.5% in the 3rd quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 4,323,700 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $639,994,000 after acquiring an additional 1,431,500 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Expedia Group by 22.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,250,710 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $481,170,000 after acquiring an additional 596,510 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Expedia Group by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,197,927 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $472,212,000 after acquiring an additional 20,005 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Expedia Group by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,689,485 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $250,078,000 after acquiring an additional 144,579 shares during the period. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Expedia Group by 46.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,576,472 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $233,349,000 after acquiring an additional 498,934 shares during the period. 90.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Expedia Group Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of EXPE opened at $193.55 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $24.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.82. Expedia Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $107.25 and a 12-month high of $207.73. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $186.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $167.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. 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 yield of 0.83%. Expedia Group’s dividend payout ratio is 17.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Expedia Group news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.79, for a total transaction of $1,697,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 158,505 shares in the company, valued at $26,912,563.95. This represents a 5.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.70, for a total transaction of $1,028,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 74,502 shares in the company, valued at $15,325,061.40. This trade represents a 6.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,000 shares of company stock worth $4,577,900 over the last three months. Company insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EXPE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Expedia Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $135.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $166.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.64.

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.