Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-six research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-seven have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $6,179.4194.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Booking from $6,723.00 to $6,790.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $6,325.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Mizuho set a $6,000.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,800,000. The trade was a 4.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,362.00, for a total value of $80,430.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,764,124. This trade represents a 2.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,324 shares of company stock valued at $17,193,557. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Booking

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 15.6% in the second quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 511 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,958,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in shares of Booking by 18.6% during the second quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 75,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $437,284,000 after buying an additional 11,829 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Booking by 67.3% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $174,893,000 after buying an additional 12,148 shares during the period. Covey Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Booking by 1.0% during the second quarter. Covey Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,467,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc raised its position in shares of Booking by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 2,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,262,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Up 0.9%

Booking stock opened at $5,492.11 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $5,157.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5,372.97. The stock has a market cap of $177.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.23. Booking has a twelve month low of $4,096.23 and a twelve month high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. The company had revenue of $9.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The business’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $83.39 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Booking will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th were given a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 24.96%.

Booking Company Profile

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.