Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Acquires 9,052 Shares of Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 176,023 shares of the online travel company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,052 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Expedia Group were worth $32,798,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Expedia Group in the fourth quarter worth $670,565,000. Windacre Partnership LLC lifted its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 49.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,431,500 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Expedia Group by 326.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 293,482 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $54,685,000 after purchasing an additional 224,732 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 193.3% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 340,171 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $63,384,000 after purchasing an additional 224,182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,360,374 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $439,808,000 after buying an additional 150,480 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

Expedia Group Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Expedia Group stock opened at $168.10 on Monday. Expedia Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $107.25 and a twelve month high of $207.73. The company’s 50 day moving average is $182.46 and its 200 day moving average is $174.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The company has a market cap of $21.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.83.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.06 by ($0.22). Expedia Group had a return on equity of 52.41% and a net margin of 9.01%. Research analysts anticipate that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This is an increase from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. Expedia Group’s payout ratio is currently 17.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EXPE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Melius Research raised Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Expedia Group from $235.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $210.00 target price (up previously from $180.00) on shares of Expedia Group in a report on Friday, February 7th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Expedia Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $193.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.79, for a total transaction of $1,697,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 158,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,912,563.95. This represents a 5.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.70, for a total value of $1,028,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 74,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,325,061.40. This represents a 6.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,000 shares of company stock worth $4,577,900 in the last 90 days. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.