Certuity LLC Buys New Position in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE)

Certuity LLC bought a new stake in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,834 shares of the online travel company’s stock, valued at approximately $342,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Greenleaf Trust grew its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,520 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $470,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Expedia Group by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,980 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $441,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in Expedia Group by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,754 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $704,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Expedia Group by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 489 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venture Visionary Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 11,367 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $1,683,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. 90.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Expedia Group Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EXPE opened at $202.61 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The firm has a market cap of $26.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.82. Expedia Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $107.25 and a 12 month high of $207.73. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $183.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $161.87.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.06 by ($0.22). Expedia Group had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 55.42%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 10.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This is a boost from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th.

Insider Transactions at Expedia Group

In related news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.79, for a total transaction of $1,697,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 at this link. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 1,951 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $351,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 85,250 shares in the company, valued at $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 sold a total of 21,951 shares of company stock worth $3,900,580 over the last 90 days. 6.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on EXPE. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Expedia Group in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $215.00 target price (up from $180.00) on shares of Expedia Group in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.64.

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.