Expedia and TripAdvisor See Million-Dollar Insider Stock Buys

Barrons2022-03-14

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, inflation worries, and higher energy prices have combined to cause one of the most volatile investing climates in quite a while.

So far this year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 index, and the Nasdaq Composite have all slipped into correction territory. That is, they are all more than 20% lower than recent highs.

With the stock market at lows, insiders have been snapping up shares relegated to the bargain bin, and recently that has included those of online travel agencies. Interestingly, Expedia Group (ticker: EXPE) has proven to be far more resilient than the broader market, slipping only 1% so far this year, while the S&P 500 is down 12%. Meanwhile, TripAdvisor (TRIP) stock is down 14% year to date. Nonetheless, both OTAs saw significant insider stock buys.

Expedia Vice Chairman and CEO Peter Kern paid $1 million on March 7 for 6,000 shares, an average price of $169.79 each, according to a form he filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Kern made the purchase through a living trust that now owns 130,937 Expedia shares.

Expedia didn’t respond to a request to make Kern available for comment. It’s his first open-market purchase of stock since he added the CEO title in April 2020. His last purchase of Expedia stock was in December 2019, when he paid $2.5 million for 23,070 shares, an average price of $108.33 each. Kern held only the vice chairman post at the time.

TripAdvisor Chairman Gregory Maffei has also caught the travel bug in terms of buying stock. He paid $1.1 million on March 4 for 50,000 shares, an average price of $22.38 each. Maffei now owns 92,448 TripAdvisor shares. Maffei also serves as Chairman and CEO of Liberty TripAdvisor (LTRPA), which holds a controlling interest in TripAdvisor.

TripAdvisor and Liberty TripAdvisor didn’t make Maffei available for comment. He has been a TripAdvisor director since 2013; the open-market purchase of TripAdvisor stock is his first on record, although he has bought Liberty TripAdvisor stock, most recently in 2019.

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Comments

  • surfer guy
    2022-03-15
    surfer guy
    Good sign CEO or Chair bought own company shares usually, meaning great conviction in their company and might aid investor confidence
  • Lim89
    2022-03-14
    Lim89
    Hi
  • ShaelD
    2022-03-14
    ShaelD
    [Miser] 
  • AnaiAnai
    2022-03-14
    AnaiAnai
    DJI diwn from peak not 20% yet. only 15%.
  • Footixx
    2022-03-14
    Footixx
    😀
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