Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Sells 1,935 Shares of Expedia Group, Inc. $EXPE

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC cut its position in Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) by 25.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,775 shares of the online travel company’s stock after selling 1,935 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Expedia Group were worth $1,285,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EXPE. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,304,305 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $2,581,530,000 after acquiring an additional 102,494 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Expedia Group in the second quarter valued at about $663,882,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Expedia Group by 1.7% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,414,935 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $574,364,000 after purchasing an additional 58,244 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Expedia Group by 102.0% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,917,669 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $492,152,000 after acquiring an additional 1,473,386 shares during the period. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Expedia Group by 4.2% in the second quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,475,276 shares of the online travel company’s stock worth $417,530,000 after purchasing an additional 100,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on EXPE. Citigroup lifted their price target on Expedia Group from $206.00 to $281.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Expedia Group from $220.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Wedbush upped their price target on Expedia Group from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. UBS Group set a $270.00 price target on Expedia Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Argus lifted their price objective on Expedia Group from $340.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and twenty-four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $288.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at Expedia Group

In other news, CAO Lance A. Soliday sold 849 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.08, for a total value of $210,619.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,662 shares in the company, valued at $2,893,108.96. This trade represents a 6.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Madhumita Moina Banerjee sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.00, for a total value of $258,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $752,328. The trade was a 25.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,849 shares of company stock valued at $1,283,270. Corporate insiders own 9.13% of the company’s stock.

Expedia Group Trading Down 4.5%

NASDAQ EXPE opened at $272.15 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $274.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $232.18. Expedia Group, Inc. has a one year low of $130.01 and a one year high of $303.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

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

Expedia Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 19th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 19th. Expedia Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.31%.

About Expedia Group

Expedia Group (NASDAQ: EXPE) is a global travel technology company that operates an online marketplace connecting consumers, travel suppliers and third‑party partners. The company’s platform enables search, comparison and booking of travel products and services, including hotels, airline tickets, vacation rentals, car rentals, cruises and packaged travel. Its portfolio comprises consumer-facing travel brands as well as corporate travel solutions and technology services that serve both leisure and business travelers.

Key offerings include consumer booking platforms and mobile apps that aggregate inventory from hotels, vacation rental managers, airlines and car rental companies, alongside ancillary travel services such as trip insurance and activities.