Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Upgraded to Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $300.00 target price on the online travel company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $240.00.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on EXPE. Barclays increased their price target on Expedia Group from $245.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Bank of America upped their target price on Expedia Group from $303.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Expedia Group from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Expedia Group in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Citizens Jmp restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Expedia Group in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twenty-two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $282.77.

Expedia Group Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of EXPE stock opened at $226.51 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. Expedia Group has a fifty-two week low of $130.01 and a fifty-two week high of $303.80. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $234.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $244.86. The stock has a market cap of $27.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.41.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The online travel company reported $3.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.46. Expedia Group had a net margin of 8.78% and a return on equity of 72.23%. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.41 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.39 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Expedia Group will post 12.28 EPS for the current year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Expedia Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.49%.

Insider Activity

In other Expedia Group news, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 8,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.82, for a total value of $1,816,244.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 102,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,629,633.60. This represents a 7.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 9.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Expedia Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Expedia Group during the 4th quarter worth $861,979,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 24,899.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,808,466 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $386,560,000 after purchasing an additional 1,801,232 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 102.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,917,669 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $492,152,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473,386 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 594.0% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 583,830 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $165,405,000 after purchasing an additional 499,706 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 55.0% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,286,093 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $364,363,000 after purchasing an additional 456,176 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

About Expedia Group

Expedia Group (NASDAQ: EXPE) is a global travel technology company that operates an online marketplace connecting consumers, travel suppliers and third‑party partners. The company’s platform enables search, comparison and booking of travel products and services, including hotels, airline tickets, vacation rentals, car rentals, cruises and packaged travel. Its portfolio comprises consumer-facing travel brands as well as corporate travel solutions and technology services that serve both leisure and business travelers.

Key offerings include consumer booking platforms and mobile apps that aggregate inventory from hotels, vacation rental managers, airlines and car rental companies, alongside ancillary travel services such as trip insurance and activities.