Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Given “Buy” Rating at Benchmark

Benchmark reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a $180.00 price objective on the online travel company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on EXPE. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $159.00 to $155.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Expedia Group from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and decreased their target price for the company from $165.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler cut Expedia Group from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $175.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Expedia Group from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $156.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Expedia Group currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $148.08.

Expedia Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ EXPE traded down $20.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $115.33. 13,956,064 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,820,841. The company has a market capitalization of $15.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The business’s 50 day moving average is $134.23 and its 200-day moving average is $134.85. Expedia Group has a 1 year low of $87.94 and a 1 year high of $160.05.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The online travel company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.10. Expedia Group had a net margin of 6.18% and a return on equity of 38.69%. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.88 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Expedia Group will post 9.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Expedia Group

In other news, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 5,119 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.21, for a total value of $702,377.99. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 10,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,492,844.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 8.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Expedia Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ValueAct Holdings L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Expedia Group during the fourth quarter worth $645,346,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Expedia Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $334,632,000. Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in Expedia Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $40,976,000. Kodai Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Expedia Group during the fourth quarter worth about $38,072,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Expedia Group by 242.5% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 262,519 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $27,058,000 after purchasing an additional 185,880 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

About Expedia Group

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.