Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Buy” Rating

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Sunday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Booking from $5,443.00 to $5,523.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. BNP Paribas set a $6,100.00 price target on Booking in a research note on Monday, November 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Booking from $5,640.00 to $6,050.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Truist Financial set a $5,810.00 price objective on Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $6,450.00 to $6,630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6,149.23.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $5,323.20 on Friday. Booking has a fifty-two week low of $4,096.23 and a fifty-two week high of $5,839.41. The firm has a market cap of $171.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.60, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $5,127.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $5,370.91.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $95.56 by $3.94. The company had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. Booking had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 134.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $83.39 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Booking will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,414.53, for a total value of $3,091,696.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 21,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $113,759,275.30. This represents a 2.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 1,514 shares in the company, valued at $7,570,000. The trade was a 11.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 3,324 shares of company stock worth $17,193,557. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Booking

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,210,917,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 578,824.0% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,675,765,000 after purchasing an additional 289,412 shares during the period. Vestor Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 658,925.0% during the second quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 105,444 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $610,441,000 after purchasing an additional 105,428 shares in the last quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. purchased a new stake in Booking in the second quarter worth $536,675,000. Finally, Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Booking in the third quarter worth $468,252,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Booking

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel company that operates a portfolio of consumer brands and technology platforms that facilitate the search for and booking of travel services. The company’s businesses focus on accommodations, transportation and related travel services through consumer-facing websites and apps as well as partner distribution channels. Booking Holdings was originally founded as Priceline in the late 1990s and adopted the Booking Holdings name in 2018; it is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Its core offerings include online reservations for hotels, vacation rentals and other lodging; flight and car rental search and booking; and ancillary services that support travel planning and on-property experiences.