Baird Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Expedia Group, Inc. $EXPE

Baird Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 141,047 shares of the online travel company’s stock after selling 4,293 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Expedia Group were worth $23,792,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Expedia Group in the fourth quarter worth about $408,000. Blair William & Co. IL bought a new stake in Expedia Group in the first quarter worth $200,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Expedia Group by 2.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,201,811 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $2,555,424,000 after purchasing an additional 394,147 shares during the last quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. purchased a new stake in Expedia Group during the first quarter valued at $1,506,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 745,959 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $125,396,000 after acquiring an additional 13,314 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Expedia Group

In other Expedia Group news, Director Craig A. Jacobson sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.55, for a total transaction of $814,650.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 30,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,379,489.90. This trade represents a 8.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 849 shares of Expedia Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.08, for a total value of $210,619.92. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 11,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,893,108.96. The trade was a 6.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 4,849 shares of company stock worth $1,283,270 over the last three months. Company insiders own 9.13% of the company’s stock.

Expedia Group Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of Expedia Group stock opened at $263.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $234.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $205.38. Expedia Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.01 and a 1 year high of $279.61. The stock has a market cap of $32.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.21, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.44.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The online travel company reported $7.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.10 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $4.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.28 billion. Expedia Group had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 64.15%. Expedia Group’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 19th. Expedia Group’s dividend payout ratio is 15.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EXPE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Expedia Group from $253.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $209.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Expedia Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Expedia Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and twenty-five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $265.31.

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.