Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Shares Up 8.7% After Analyst Upgrade

Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) shares were up 8.7% on Friday after Wedbush raised their price target on the stock from $130.00 to $180.00. Wedbush currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Expedia Group traded as high as $190.40 and last traded at $189.24. Approximately 1,524,780 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 30% from the average daily volume of 2,169,300 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.13.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial started coverage on Expedia Group in a report on Friday, September 6th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $148.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $130.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Expedia Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.87, for a total value of $1,568,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 188,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,570,779.35. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Expedia Group news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.87, for a total transaction of $1,568,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 188,505 shares in the company, valued at $29,570,779.35. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,417 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.60, for a total transaction of $729,128.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 84,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,379,487.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,019 shares of company stock valued at $6,958,891 in the last quarter. Insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Expedia Group

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXPE. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in Expedia Group by 4,525.0% in the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 185 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in Expedia Group by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 5,101 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $703,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its position in Expedia Group by 17.0% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,988 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $549,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Expedia Group during the 1st quarter worth $8,361,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 26.6% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 53,090 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $7,313,000 after purchasing an additional 11,160 shares during the period. 90.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Expedia Group Trading Up 7.4 %

The business’s 50 day moving average is $148.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $132.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.79, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.45.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The online travel company reported $3.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.17 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. Expedia Group had a net margin of 6.09% and a return on equity of 47.55%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.34 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 8.99 EPS for the current year.

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.