Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Raised to Buy at HSBC

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) was upgraded by research analysts at HSBC from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm presently has a $215.00 target price on the online travel company’s stock. HSBC’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 24.59% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on EXPE. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $135.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Argus raised their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Melius raised shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $135.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Expedia Group in a research report on Tuesday. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Expedia Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.71.

Expedia Group Price Performance

Shares of EXPE opened at $172.57 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.15 billion, a PE ratio of 22.21, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.82. The company’s 50-day moving average is $182.31 and its 200-day moving average is $159.83. Expedia Group has a fifty-two week low of $107.25 and a fifty-two week high of $192.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73.

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 net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 49.25%. Equities analysts forecast that Expedia Group will post 8.76 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.99, for a total value of $1,273,930.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 11,187 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,035,922.13. The trade was a 38.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 158,505 shares in the company, valued at $26,912,563.95. This trade represents a 5.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 28,951 shares of company stock worth $5,174,510. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Banco Santander S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Expedia Group during the 4th quarter valued at $257,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new position in shares of Expedia Group during the 4th quarter valued at $462,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Expedia Group by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,639 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $678,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A. lifted its position in shares of Expedia Group by 144.6% during the 4th quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 43,650 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $8,133,000 after acquiring an additional 25,802 shares during the period. Finally, Chung Wu Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Expedia Group during the 4th quarter valued at $242,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.