Wedbush Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Stock

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) had its price target lifted by Wedbush from $130.00 to $180.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the online travel company’s stock. Wedbush’s target price would suggest a potential downside of 0.42% from the company’s current price.

EXPE has been the topic of a number of other reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Expedia Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $138.00 to $134.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $140.00 price objective (down from $145.00) on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded shares of Expedia Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $130.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $159.88.

Expedia Group Price Performance

EXPE stock traded up $6.63 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $180.76. The company had a trading volume of 4,871,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,550,834. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $149.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $133.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.45. The company has a market capitalization of $23.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.78. Expedia Group has a 12-month low of $107.25 and a 12-month high of $190.40.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The online travel company reported $3.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.17 by $0.34. Expedia Group had a net margin of 6.09% and a return on equity of 47.55%. The firm had revenue of $3.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.34 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Expedia Group will post 8.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Expedia Group news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.21, for a total transaction of $1,502,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 208,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,319,536.05. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.21, for a total value of $1,502,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 208,505 shares in the company, valued at $31,319,536.05. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,417 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.60, for a total transaction of $729,128.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 84,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,379,487.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 48,019 shares of company stock worth $6,958,891. 6.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Expedia Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 36.8% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,654,200 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $334,403,000 after purchasing an additional 714,229 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 414.4% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 686,244 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $94,512,000 after acquiring an additional 552,831 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 1,649.4% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 407,605 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $51,354,000 after acquiring an additional 384,305 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 88.8% during the 2nd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 753,260 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $94,903,000 after acquiring an additional 354,389 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of Expedia Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $39,183,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

Expedia Group Company 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.