B. Riley Reiterates Buy Rating for Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE)

B. Riley reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $235.00 price target on the online travel company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $220.00.

EXPE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on Expedia Group in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 price target for the company. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Friday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $153.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $135.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $187.93.

Expedia Group Trading Up 17.3 %

EXPE opened at $202.37 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. Expedia Group has a twelve month low of $107.25 and a twelve month high of $205.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $182.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $159.92.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.06 by ($0.22). Expedia Group had a return on equity of 49.25% and a net margin of 7.97%. Analysts predict that Expedia Group will post 8.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Expedia Group

In related news, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 1,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total transaction of $351,180.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 85,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,345,000. This trade represents a 2.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 7,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.99, for a total value of $1,273,930.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 11,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,035,922.13. The trade was a 38.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,951 shares of company stock valued at $5,174,510. Corporate insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Expedia Group

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of EXPE. Greenleaf Trust raised its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,520 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $470,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Expedia Group by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,980 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $441,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in Expedia Group by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,754 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $704,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Expedia Group by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 489 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venture Visionary Partners LLC grew its stake in Expedia Group by 0.6% in the third quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 11,367 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $1,683,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. 90.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Expedia Group

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.