Oppenheimer Cuts Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Price Target to $230.00

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) had its price target lowered by Oppenheimer from $235.00 to $230.00 in a research note released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the online travel company’s stock.

EXPE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Citigroup raised 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, February 11th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $215.00 target price (up previously from $180.00) on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $208.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Expedia Group in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $193.43.

Expedia Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EXPE opened at $172.48 on Monday. Expedia Group has a fifty-two week low of $107.25 and a fifty-two week high of $207.73. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $184.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.26. The company has a market capitalization of $22.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.83. 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 (NASDAQ:EXPE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 earnings per share 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%. Analysts expect that Expedia Group will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This is a boost from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Expedia Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.68%.

Insider Transactions at Expedia Group

In other news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.15, for a total transaction of $1,851,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 168,505 shares in the company, valued at $31,198,700.75. This trade represents a 5.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.70, for a total transaction of $1,028,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 74,502 shares in the company, valued at $15,325,061.40. The trade was a 6.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,000 shares of company stock worth $4,577,900 in the last 90 days. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Expedia Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Windacre Partnership LLC raised its position in shares of Expedia Group by 49.5% during the 3rd quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 4,323,700 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $639,994,000 after purchasing an additional 1,431,500 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Expedia Group in the 4th quarter valued at $670,565,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Expedia Group by 22.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,250,710 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $481,170,000 after acquiring an additional 596,510 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Expedia Group by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,228,090 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $600,750,000 after acquiring an additional 30,163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Expedia Group by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,360,374 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $439,808,000 after acquiring an additional 150,480 shares during the last quarter. 90.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.