Tripadvisor (NASDAQ:TRIP) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Tripadvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRIP)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $12.95, but opened at $14.39. Tripadvisor shares last traded at $14.48, with a volume of 1,436,049 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on TRIP shares. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Tripadvisor from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Tripadvisor from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. B. Riley raised their target price on Tripadvisor from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Tripadvisor from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Tripadvisor from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.33.

Tripadvisor Trading Up 8.8 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $14.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.85 and a current ratio of 1.85. The stock has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a PE ratio of 61.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.35 and a beta of 1.36.

Tripadvisor (NASDAQ:TRIP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The travel company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $532.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $527.86 million. Tripadvisor had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 1.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Tripadvisor, Inc. will post 0.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Tripadvisor by 167.6% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,067,733 shares of the travel company’s stock valued at $73,431,000 after purchasing an additional 3,173,817 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Tripadvisor by 33.3% in the third quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 3,670,063 shares of the travel company’s stock worth $53,179,000 after purchasing an additional 917,689 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Tripadvisor by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,457,661 shares of the travel company’s stock worth $50,102,000 after buying an additional 33,809 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Tripadvisor by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,733,746 shares of the travel company’s stock valued at $48,686,000 after buying an additional 95,138 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in Tripadvisor by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,566,342 shares of the travel company’s stock worth $37,186,000 after purchasing an additional 334,961 shares in the last quarter. 98.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Tripadvisor Company Profile

TripAdvisor, Inc operates as an online travel company, primarily engages in the provision of travel guidance products and services worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Brand Tripadvisor, Viator, and TheFork. The Brand Tripadvisor segment offers travel guidance platforms for travelers to discover, generate, and share authentic user-generated content in the form of ratings and reviews for destinations, points-of-interest, experiences, accommodations, restaurants, and cruises.