Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE)

Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 42,163 shares of the online travel company’s stock after selling 1,756 shares during the quarter. Expedia Group makes up approximately 2.7% of Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Expedia Group were worth $7,856,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Windacre Partnership LLC grew its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 49.5% during the third quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 4,323,700 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $639,994,000 after acquiring an additional 1,431,500 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 596,510 shares during the period. Alkeon Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 worth $233,349,000 after purchasing an additional 498,934 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in Expedia Group by 326.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 293,482 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $54,685,000 after buying an additional 224,732 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $250,078,000 after purchasing an additional 144,579 shares during the period. 90.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EXPE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Expedia Group from $168.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Susquehanna increased their target price on Expedia Group from $145.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays lifted their price target on Expedia Group from $166.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Melius raised Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Nineteen research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $187.93.

Expedia Group Trading Up 17.3 %

EXPE opened at $202.37 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.97 billion, a PE ratio of 26.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Expedia Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $107.25 and a 12-month high of $205.12. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $182.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $159.92.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, research analysts expect that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 8.76 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%.

Insider Activity at Expedia Group

In other Expedia Group news, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 1,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total value of $351,180.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 85,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,345,000. This trade represents a 2.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 168,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,198,700.75. This represents a 5.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,951 shares of company stock valued at $5,174,510 in the last quarter. Insiders own 6.80% 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.