MRP Capital Investments LLC Trims Stake in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE)

MRP Capital Investments LLC cut its stake in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,040 shares of the online travel company’s stock after selling 125 shares during the period. MRP Capital Investments LLC’s holdings in Expedia Group were worth $566,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXPE. Windacre Partnership LLC grew its position in Expedia Group by 49.5% in the third quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 4,323,700 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $639,994,000 after acquiring an additional 1,431,500 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Expedia Group by 22.5% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,250,710 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $481,170,000 after purchasing an additional 596,510 shares during the last quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Expedia Group by 46.3% in the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,576,472 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $233,349,000 after purchasing an additional 498,934 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Expedia Group by 326.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 293,482 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $54,685,000 after purchasing an additional 224,732 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in Expedia Group by 193.3% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 340,171 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $63,384,000 after purchasing an additional 224,182 shares during the last quarter. 90.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Expedia Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EXPE opened at $173.09 on Friday. Expedia Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $107.25 and a 52 week high of $207.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.13, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.83. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $183.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 52.41% and a net margin of 9.01%. On average, analysts expect that Expedia Group, Inc. will post 12.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Expedia Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Expedia Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Expedia Group’s payout ratio is 17.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Expedia Group news, insider Robert J. Dzielak sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.70, for a total transaction of $1,028,500.00. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dara Khosrowshahi sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 168,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,198,700.75. This represents a 5.60 % 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 90 days. 6.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on EXPE. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up from $180.00) on shares of Expedia Group in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America raised shares of Expedia Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $187.00 to $221.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Expedia Group from $200.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Melius Research raised shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Expedia Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $193.43.

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.