First Business Financial Services Inc. Boosts Holdings in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE)

First Business Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,355 shares of the online travel company’s stock after buying an additional 415 shares during the quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Expedia Group were worth $1,929,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EXPE. Greenleaf Trust increased its position in Expedia Group by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,520 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $470,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Expedia Group by 2.1% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,980 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $441,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC increased its position in Expedia Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,754 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $704,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GHE LLC increased its position in Expedia Group by 1.0% in the third quarter. GHE LLC now owns 6,689 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $980,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on EXPE shares. Melius Research upgraded shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 price objective (up from $220.00) on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $215.00 price objective (up from $180.00) on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have issued 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 $192.64.

Expedia Group Stock Performance

EXPE stock opened at $190.99 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $187.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.00. The company has a market capitalization of $24.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.82. Expedia Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $107.25 and a 1-year high of $207.73.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.06 by ($0.22). Expedia Group had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 52.41%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 12.28 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. 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 0.84%. Expedia Group’s payout ratio is currently 17.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Expedia Group news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 158,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,912,563.95. The trade was a 5.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.70, for a total transaction of $1,028,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 74,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,325,061.40. This represents a 6.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,000 shares of company stock worth $4,577,900. 6.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.