Korea Investment CORP Buys 11,379 Shares of Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE)

Korea Investment CORP boosted its stake in shares of Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) by 11.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 114,690 shares of the online travel company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,379 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Expedia Group were worth $21,370,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SRH Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Expedia Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Grove Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 676.2% during the 4th quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 163 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in Expedia Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Expedia Group by 75.5% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 272 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Expedia Group during the fourth quarter worth $72,000. Institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on EXPE shares. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $235.00 price objective (up previously from $220.00) on shares of Expedia Group 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 target on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. HSBC raised shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Expedia Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $187.00 to $221.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Nineteen equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Expedia Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.43.

Expedia Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ EXPE opened at $168.10 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $182.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.15. 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 company has a market cap of $21.66 billion, a PE ratio of 18.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.83. Expedia Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $107.25 and a 1-year high of $207.73.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 52.41% and a net margin of 9.01%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. Expedia Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Expedia Group news, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.70, for a total value of $1,028,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 74,502 shares in the company, valued at $15,325,061.40. The trade was a 6.29 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now owns 158,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,912,563.95. This represents a 5.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,000 shares of company stock valued at $4,577,900. Insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

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.