Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Price Target Raised to $165.00 at Morgan Stanley

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) had its price target increased by Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $165.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the online travel company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on EXPE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Expedia Group from $205.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Expedia Group from $219.00 to $183.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $165.00 price objective (down previously from $180.00) on shares of Expedia Group in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $205.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Expedia Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $187.77.

Expedia Group Price Performance

EXPE stock opened at $185.47 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.87, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $170.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $172.37. Expedia Group has a 52-week low of $110.20 and a 52-week high of $207.73.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The online travel company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.02). Expedia Group had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 52.60%. The firm had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.21 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Expedia Group will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 29th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 29th. Expedia Group’s payout ratio is currently 18.87%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Expedia Group by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,201,811 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $2,555,424,000 after purchasing an additional 394,147 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Expedia Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $670,565,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,228,090 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $600,750,000 after acquiring an additional 30,163 shares during the last quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Expedia Group by 20.2% in the first quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,375,276 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $399,284,000 after purchasing an additional 398,804 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Expedia Group by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,360,374 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $439,808,000 after acquiring an additional 150,480 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.