Royal Bank Of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Stock

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) had its price objective hoisted by equities researchers at Royal Bank Of Canada from $260.00 to $290.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector perform” rating on the online travel company’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s target price indicates a potential upside of 1.75% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also commented on EXPE. CICC Research upgraded shares of Expedia Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $271.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on Expedia Group in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Expedia Group from $212.00 to $272.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $220.00 to $256.00 in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $209.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and twenty-four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Expedia Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $266.72.

Expedia Group Trading Up 0.6%

EXPE opened at $285.02 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.92 billion, a PE ratio of 27.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Expedia Group has a fifty-two week low of $130.01 and a fifty-two week high of $289.98. The company’s 50-day moving average is $242.23 and its 200 day moving average is $211.20.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The online travel company reported $7.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.10 by $0.47. The firm had revenue of $4.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.28 billion. Expedia Group had a return on equity of 64.15% and a net margin of 9.66%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Expedia Group will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Craig A. Jacobson sold 3,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.55, for a total transaction of $814,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 30,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,379,489.90. This trade represents a 8.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 849 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.08, for a total transaction of $210,619.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,662 shares in the company, valued at $2,893,108.96. This represents a 6.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 4,849 shares of company stock worth $1,283,270 over the last ninety days. 9.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in shares of Expedia Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $408,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 11.6% during the first quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 16,855 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $2,833,000 after acquiring an additional 1,747 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 70.1% in the 1st quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 5,118 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $860,000 after acquiring an additional 2,109 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 97.0% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 654 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,331,482 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $223,822,000 after purchasing an additional 55,575 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.