Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. Buys Shares of 1,237 Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE)

Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. bought a new position in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,237 shares of the online travel company’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in Expedia Group by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 30,744 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $5,729,000 after acquiring an additional 4,656 shares in the last quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Expedia Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,791,000. Clare Market Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Expedia Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $319,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 60,003 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $11,180,000 after purchasing an additional 9,086 shares during the period. Finally, Cigna Investments Inc. New purchased a new position in Expedia Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Expedia Group

In related news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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. The trade was a 5.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,000 shares of the 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 directly owns 74,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,325,061.40. This represents a 6.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,000 shares of company stock valued at $4,577,900 in the last three months. 6.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Expedia Group Stock Performance

EXPE opened at $168.10 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $182.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The stock has a market cap of $21.66 billion, a PE ratio of 18.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.83. Expedia Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $107.25 and a 1 year high of $207.73.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 earnings per share 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 52.41%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. This is a boost from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. Expedia Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EXPE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $163.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Expedia Group from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Melius Research upgraded Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Expedia Group from $168.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Expedia Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 15th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Expedia Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.43.

Expedia Group 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.