Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) Share Price Crosses Above 200-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $261.84 and traded as high as $268.62. Expedia Group shares last traded at $262.67, with a volume of 1,440,560 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EXPE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Expedia Group from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 19th. Robert W. Baird set a $335.00 price target on Expedia Group in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Expedia Group from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Expedia Group from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $370.00 target price on Expedia Group in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $316.18.

Expedia Group Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $31.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.52, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $298.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $261.86.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The online travel company reported $5.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.22 by $0.54. The firm had revenue of $4.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.17 billion. Expedia Group had a return on equity of 87.32% and a net margin of 12.97%.The business’s revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.24 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 17.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 27th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 27th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Expedia Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.97%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Lance Soliday sold 2,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.65, for a total value of $909,456.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 12,006 shares in the company, valued at $3,885,741.90. This represents a 18.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Craig Jacobson sold 3,133 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.52, for a total transaction of $1,029,253.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 29,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,800,408.64. This trade represents a 9.50% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 11,950 shares of company stock valued at $3,881,995 in the last ninety days. 5.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Expedia Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Expedia Group by 55.0% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,286,093 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $364,363,000 after acquiring an additional 456,176 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 104.1% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,191,528 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $275,112,000 after purchasing an additional 607,698 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 1.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,190,874 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $274,948,000 after purchasing an additional 17,378 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 13.3% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,069,524 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $246,942,000 after purchasing an additional 125,749 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Expedia Group by 67.7% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 780,140 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $199,622,000 after purchasing an additional 314,984 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

About Expedia Group

Expedia Group, Inc is an online travel company that connects travelers with a broad range of travel products and services. Its platforms support the search, comparison and booking of lodging, air travel, car rentals, cruises, vacation packages, activities and other travel-related offerings.

The company operates a portfolio of consumer brands that includes Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo, Travelocity, Orbitz, Wotif and ebookers. Through these brands, Expedia Group serves individual travelers, property owners, travel suppliers and business partners across markets in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other international regions.

Expedia Group traces its origins to Expedia, which was established within Microsoft in 1996 and became an independent public company in 1999.