Expedia Group, Inc. (EXPE) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.40 on March 27th

Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share by the online travel company on Thursday, March 27th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This is an increase from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34.

Expedia Group has a dividend payout ratio of 9.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Expedia Group to earn $14.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 10.8%.

Expedia Group Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of EXPE stock opened at $193.50 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $187.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $169.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. Expedia Group has a twelve month low of $107.25 and a twelve month high of $207.73. The company has a market capitalization of $24.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.38, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.82.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Expedia Group will post 12.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 74,502 shares in the company, valued at $15,325,061.40. This trade represents a 6.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 158,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,912,563.95. This trade represents a 5.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,000 shares of company stock worth $4,577,900 in the last ninety days. 6.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EXPE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Expedia Group from $168.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Baird R W raised Expedia Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays boosted their price target on Expedia Group from $166.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Expedia Group from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $192.64.

Expedia Group Company 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.