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

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) had its target price upped by Oppenheimer from $210.00 to $235.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the online travel company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Melius upgraded 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. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Expedia Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $137.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Expedia Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $187.93.

Expedia Group Trading Up 17.3 %

Expedia Group stock opened at $202.37 on Friday. Expedia Group has a 1 year low of $107.25 and a 1 year high of $205.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $182.07 and its 200-day moving average is $159.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $25.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.05, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.82.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 49.25% and a net margin of 7.97%. On average, equities analysts expect that Expedia Group will post 8.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend 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 0.79%.

Insider Transactions at Expedia Group

In other news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.15, for a total transaction of $1,851,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 168,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,198,700.75. The trade was a 5.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 1,951 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 85,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,345,000. This represents a 2.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,951 shares of company stock valued at $5,174,510 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SRH Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Expedia Group during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its position in Expedia Group by 676.2% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Expedia Group by 709.8% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Expedia Group in the third quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Expedia Group in the 4th quarter worth about $72,000. 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.