Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Purchases 141 Shares of Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 13,304 shares of the online travel company’s stock after buying an additional 141 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Expedia Group were worth $2,479,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Grove Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 676.2% in the fourth quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 163 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Expedia Group by 709.8% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 332 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Expedia Group in the third quarter worth $51,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Expedia Group by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 489 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Expedia Group by 299.3% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 559 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EXPE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America raised shares of Expedia Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $187.00 to $221.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Melius Research raised shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. HSBC upgraded shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Expedia Group from $135.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Expedia Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $190.07.

Expedia Group Stock Up 0.3 %

EXPE stock opened at $203.00 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $182.42 and its 200 day moving average is $160.81. The stock has a market cap of $26.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. Expedia Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $107.25 and a 1-year 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by ($0.22). Expedia Group had a return on equity of 55.42% and a net margin of 9.01%. Sell-side analysts predict that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 10.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be 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 of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Expedia Group news, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.15, for a total transaction of $1,851,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 168,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,198,700.75. The trade was a 5.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.99, for a total value of $1,273,930.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,035,922.13. This represents a 38.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,951 shares of company stock valued at $5,174,510 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 6.80% of the company’s stock.

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.