Convergence Investment Partners LLC Boosts Stake in Expedia Group, Inc. $EXPE

Convergence Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) by 48.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,688 shares of the online travel company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,498 shares during the period. Convergence Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Expedia Group were worth $1,775,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Windacre Partnership LLC boosted its position in shares of Expedia Group by 9.2% during the third quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 3,682,100 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $787,049,000 after buying an additional 309,900 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Expedia Group by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,645,732 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $779,275,000 after acquiring an additional 728,063 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Expedia Group by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,122,842 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $667,507,000 after acquiring an additional 230,176 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Expedia Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $861,979,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Expedia Group by 24,899.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,808,466 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $386,560,000 after acquiring an additional 1,801,232 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on EXPE. Barclays lifted their target price on Expedia Group from $260.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $270.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. B. Riley Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $307.00 to $303.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twenty-two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $288.52.

Expedia Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EXPE opened at $264.94 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.43, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $32.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $242.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $244.22. Expedia Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $174.05 and a 1-year high of $303.80.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The online travel company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.55. The firm had revenue of $3.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Expedia Group had a net margin of 9.81% and a return on equity of 84.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 16.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 28th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 28th. Expedia Group’s payout ratio is 16.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 940 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.86, for a total transaction of $208,548.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,124,454.38. The trade was a 6.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 4,702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.00, for a total transaction of $1,095,566.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 105,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,569,384. The trade was a 4.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

About Expedia Group

Expedia Group (NASDAQ: EXPE) is a global travel technology company that operates an online marketplace connecting consumers, travel suppliers and third?party partners. The company’s platform enables search, comparison and booking of travel products and services, including hotels, airline tickets, vacation rentals, car rentals, cruises and packaged travel. Its portfolio comprises consumer-facing travel brands as well as corporate travel solutions and technology services that serve both leisure and business travelers.

Key offerings include consumer booking platforms and mobile apps that aggregate inventory from hotels, vacation rental managers, airlines and car rental companies, alongside ancillary travel services such as trip insurance and activities.