Legal & General Group Plc Trims Position in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its stake in shares of Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) by 16.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 945,166 shares of the online travel company’s stock after selling 192,342 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.74% of Expedia Group worth $176,113,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in shares of Expedia Group by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 30,744 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $5,729,000 after acquiring an additional 4,656 shares during the last quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Expedia Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,791,000. Clare Market Investments LLC bought a new stake in Expedia Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $319,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Expedia Group by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 60,003 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $11,180,000 after buying an additional 9,086 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cigna Investments Inc. New bought a new stake in Expedia Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $238,000. 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 Expedia Group stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 158,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,912,563.95. The trade was a 5.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.70, for a total value of $1,028,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 74,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,325,061.40. This represents a 6.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Expedia Group Trading Up 18.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ EXPE opened at $161.68 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $178.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.97. The firm has a market cap of $20.83 billion, a PE ratio of 17.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.65. Expedia Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $107.25 and a twelve 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 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by ($0.22). Expedia Group had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 52.41%. Analysts expect that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. This is an increase from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 6th. Expedia Group’s payout ratio is 17.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EXPE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Expedia Group from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Melius upgraded Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Expedia Group from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $180.00) on shares of Expedia Group in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Expedia Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $187.00 to $221.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $191.43.

Expedia Group 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.