Clare Market Investments LLC Takes Position in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE)

Clare Market Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,711 shares of the online travel company’s stock, valued at approximately $319,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in EXPE. Windacre Partnership LLC grew its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 49.5% during the third quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 4,323,700 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $639,994,000 after buying an additional 1,431,500 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Expedia Group by 22.5% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,250,710 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $481,170,000 after purchasing an additional 596,510 shares in the last quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Expedia Group by 46.3% during the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,576,472 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $233,349,000 after purchasing an additional 498,934 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Expedia Group by 326.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 293,482 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $54,685,000 after purchasing an additional 224,732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Expedia Group by 9.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,689,485 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $250,078,000 after purchasing an additional 144,579 shares in the last quarter. 90.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Expedia Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXPE opened at $176.60 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $186.89 and a 200 day moving average of $171.27. The stock has a market cap of $22.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.83. Expedia Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $107.25 and a 12 month high of $207.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 EPS 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 12.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. This is a boost from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. 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 that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.15, for a total value of $1,851,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 168,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,198,700.75. The trade was a 5.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 74,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,325,061.40. This represents a 6.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,000 shares of company stock valued at $4,577,900 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $168.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. HSBC raised shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Expedia Group from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and set a $235.00 price target (up from $220.00) on shares of Expedia Group in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, DA Davidson 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 report on Friday, February 7th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $192.64.

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.