AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Cuts Position in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lessened its holdings in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 808,600 shares of the online travel company’s stock after selling 8,992 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd owned about 0.63% of Expedia Group worth $150,666,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Expedia Group by 1,353.9% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,105 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $164,000 after buying an additional 1,029 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,076 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 13,163 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $1,948,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 24.9% during the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,103 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $311,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 296.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 860 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $127,000 after purchasing an additional 643 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Expedia Group news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.79, for a total value 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 represents a 5.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 1,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $351,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 85,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,345,000. This represents a 2.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,951 shares of company stock worth $3,900,580. Corporate insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Expedia Group from $210.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Baird R W upgraded Expedia Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays boosted their target price on Expedia Group from $166.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Expedia Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Argus upped their price objective on Expedia Group from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.64.

Expedia Group Stock Performance

Shares of EXPE stock opened at $202.38 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $183.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $162.44. The company has a market cap of $25.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.82. Expedia Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $107.25 and a 12 month high of $207.73.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by ($0.22). Expedia Group had a return on equity of 55.42% and a net margin of 9.01%. Sell-side analysts predict that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 10.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. This is an increase from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34.

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.