South Dakota Investment Council Sells 10,174 Shares of Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE)

South Dakota Investment Council lessened its holdings in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) by 16.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,531 shares of the online travel company’s stock after selling 10,174 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Expedia Group were worth $9,415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Greenleaf Trust boosted its stake in Expedia Group by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,520 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $470,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Expedia Group by 2.1% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,980 shares of the online travel company’s stock valued at $441,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in Expedia Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,754 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $704,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Expedia Group by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 489 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Finally, GHE LLC raised its holdings in Expedia Group by 1.0% in the third quarter. GHE LLC now owns 6,689 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $980,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Expedia Group in a report on Friday, February 7th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $168.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Expedia Group from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Expedia Group Stock Performance

Shares of EXPE stock opened at $196.91 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.76, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $185.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $166.13. Expedia Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $107.25 and a 52 week high of $207.73.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The online travel company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by ($0.22). Expedia Group had a net margin of 9.01% and a return on equity of 52.41%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. This is a boost from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. Expedia Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.68%.

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.