Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Earns Buy Rating from Benchmark

Benchmark reiterated their buy rating on shares of Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a $180.00 target price on the online travel company’s stock.

EXPE has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America downgraded shares of Expedia Group from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $156.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Expedia Group from $159.00 to $155.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Wedbush lowered their price target on Expedia Group from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $155.00 to $140.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, B. Riley decreased their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $200.00 to $190.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $148.08.

Expedia Group Stock Down 15.3 %

EXPE stock opened at $115.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.93, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $133.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.45. Expedia Group has a 12 month low of $87.94 and a 12 month high of $160.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.72 billion, a PE ratio of 21.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.83.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The online travel company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.88 billion. Expedia Group had a return on equity of 41.63% and a net margin of 6.18%. Equities analysts expect that Expedia Group will post 9.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Expedia Group news, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 5,119 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.21, for a total transaction of $702,377.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 10,880 shares in the company, valued at $1,492,844.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 8.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Expedia Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EXPE. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. acquired a new stake in Expedia Group in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. City State Bank boosted its position in shares of Expedia Group by 157.3% during the fourth quarter. City State Bank now owns 193 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Expedia Group in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in Expedia Group by 173.0% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 344 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Expedia Group by 335.6% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 318 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

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.