Expedia Inc (EXPE): A Couple Metrics To Keep An Eye On

Is Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) a buy right now? Money managers are turning less bullish. The number of long hedge fund positions dropped by 2 in recent months.

In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are tons of gauges investors can use to monitor the equity markets. A duo of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the best hedge fund managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a superb margin (see just how much).

Equally as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the world of equities. There are a variety of stimuli for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if you know where to look (learn more here).

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the key action surrounding Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE).

How have hedgies been trading Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE)?

At year’s end, a total of 33 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -6% from the previous quarter. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of notable hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes meaningfully.

Of the funds we track, Citadel Investment Group, managed by Ken Griffin, holds the biggest position in Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE). Citadel Investment Group has a $151.1 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. On Citadel Investment Group’s heels is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $142 million position; 0.4% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedgies that are bullish include Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, Barry Rosenstein’s JANA Partners and Paul Reeder and Edward Shapiro’s PAR Capital Management.

Seeing as Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) has faced declining sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s safe to say that there were a few hedgies that elected to cut their entire stakes at the end of the year. At the top of the heap, Matt Sirovich and Jeremy Mindich’s Scopia Capital sold off the largest stake of the 450+ funds we key on, worth close to $86.9 million in stock.. Christopher Medlock James’s fund, Partner Fund Management, also dumped its stock, about $31.4 million worth. These transactions are intriguing to say the least, as total hedge fund interest fell by 2 funds at the end of the year.

What have insiders been doing with Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE)?

Bullish insider trading is best served when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time period, Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) has seen 1 unique insiders buying, and 4 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE). These stocks are Marriott International Inc (NYSE:MAR), Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc (NYSE:HOT), Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H), Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE:WYN), and InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (ADR) (NYSE:IHG). This group of stocks are in the lodging industry and their market caps are closest to EXPE’s market cap.