Expedia Group Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:EXPE)

Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders purchased 8,389 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 46% compared to the typical volume of 5,744 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America raised shares of Expedia Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $187.00 to $221.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. HSBC raised shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $193.43.

Insider Transactions at Expedia Group

In related news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.79, for a total transaction of $1,697,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 158,505 shares in the company, valued at $26,912,563.95. This trade represents a 5.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.70, for a total transaction of $1,028,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 74,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,325,061.40. The trade was a 6.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 25,000 shares of company stock worth $4,577,900. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Expedia Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Windacre Partnership LLC increased its holdings in Expedia Group by 49.5% in the 3rd quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 4,323,700 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $639,994,000 after acquiring an additional 1,431,500 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Expedia Group during the fourth quarter worth $670,565,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $481,170,000 after buying an additional 596,510 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,228,090 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $600,750,000 after buying an additional 30,163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,360,374 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $439,808,000 after buying an additional 150,480 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

Expedia Group Stock Performance

Shares of EXPE traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $173.37. The stock had a trading volume of 1,079,481 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,889,513. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.14, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $183.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. Expedia Group has a fifty-two week low of $107.25 and a fifty-two week high of $207.73.

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

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Expedia Group’s payout ratio is presently 17.68%.

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.