Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Stock Rating Reaffirmed as “Buy” by BTIG Research

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities researchers at BTIG Research in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $400.00 price target on the online travel company’s stock. BTIG Research’s price target points to a potential upside of 56.18% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on EXPE. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Expedia Group from $303.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Expedia Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $264.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Expedia Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $315.24.

Expedia Group Stock Down 1.5%

NASDAQ EXPE traded down $3.96 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $256.11. 59,348 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,035,856. Expedia Group has a 52-week low of $185.34 and a 52-week high of $342.00. The firm has a market cap of $30.74 billion, a PE ratio of 15.95, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.36. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $297.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $262.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The online travel company reported $5.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.22 by $0.54. Expedia Group had a net margin of 12.97% and a return on equity of 87.32%. The business had revenue of $4.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.24 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Expedia Group will post 17.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Expedia Group

In related news, CAO Lance Soliday sold 2,810 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $323.65, for a total value of $909,456.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 12,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,885,741.90. This trade represents a 18.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Robert Dzielak sold 1,004 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.00, for a total value of $336,340.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 104,331 shares in the company, valued at $34,950,885. This trade represents a 0.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 11,950 shares of company stock worth $3,881,995 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its stake in Expedia Group by 0.6% during the second quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 5,270 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $1,348,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Expedia Group by 3.2% in the first quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,305 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $301,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 3.0% during the first quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 1,628 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in shares of Expedia Group by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 7,389 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $1,706,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Expedia Group by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 1,666 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $426,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. 90.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Expedia Group

Expedia Group, Inc is an online travel company that connects travelers with a broad range of travel products and services. Its platforms support the search, comparison and booking of lodging, air travel, car rentals, cruises, vacation packages, activities and other travel-related offerings.

The company operates a portfolio of consumer brands that includes Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo, Travelocity, Orbitz, Wotif and ebookers. Through these brands, Expedia Group serves individual travelers, property owners, travel suppliers and business partners across markets in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other international regions.

Expedia Group traces its origins to Expedia, which was established within Microsoft in 1996 and became an independent public company in 1999.