Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Rating Lowered to Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) was downgraded by BMO Capital Markets from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $145.00 target price on the online travel company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $165.00. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 25.73% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Expedia Group from $159.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Expedia Group from $155.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Expedia Group from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $155.00 price target on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Expedia Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $148.08.

Expedia Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:EXPE opened at $115.33 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24. Expedia Group has a 52 week low of $87.94 and a 52 week high of $160.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $133.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $134.96.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The online travel company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.10. Expedia Group had a return on equity of 38.69% and a net margin of 6.18%. The company had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.88 billion. Equities analysts expect that Expedia Group will post 9.7 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Expedia Group news, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 5,119 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.21, for a total transaction of $702,377.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 10,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,492,844.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 8.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Expedia Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. ValueAct Holdings L.P. purchased a new position in Expedia Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $645,346,000. Boston Partners raised its position in Expedia Group by 1.3% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,567,830 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $264,627,000 after buying an additional 32,191 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Expedia Group in the 4th quarter worth about $334,632,000. Lyrical Asset Management LP boosted its position in Expedia Group by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,796,068 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $272,625,000 after acquiring an additional 13,792 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Expedia Group by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,557,816 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $160,564,000 after acquiring an additional 22,518 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.