Booking’s (BKNG) Buy Rating Reiterated at BTIG Research

BTIG Research reiterated their buy rating on shares of Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $6,250.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on BKNG. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,523.00 to $5,954.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price target on shares of Booking from $6,250.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $5,000.00 price objective (down from $5,750.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Booking from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $6,000.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Twenty-eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,971.64.

Booking Stock Up 1.7%

BKNG stock opened at $4,076.79 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $5,007.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5,181.61. Booking has a 12-month low of $3,871.01 and a 12-month high of $5,839.41. The firm has a market cap of $129.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.54, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.21.

Booking shares are scheduled to split before the market opens on Monday, April 6th. The 25-1 split was announced on Wednesday, February 18th. The newly minted shares will be distributed to shareholders after the market closes on Thursday, April 2nd.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $48.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $47.96 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $6.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.12 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 128.99% and a net margin of 20.08%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $41.55 EPS. Research analysts expect that Booking will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,105.36, for a total transaction of $204,214.40. Following the sale, the director owned 840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,288,502.40. The trade was a 4.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 452 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,149.75, for a total value of $1,875,687.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 18,543 shares in the company, valued at $76,948,814.25. This trade represents a 2.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 3,108 shares of company stock valued at $15,287,682 over the last three months. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,914 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,132,000 after buying an additional 492 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in Booking by 15.6% during the second quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 511 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,958,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 59.6% in the 3rd quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 1,119 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,042,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $174,893,000 after buying an additional 12,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC boosted its stake in Booking by 339.0% in the third quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC now owns 180 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $974,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Booking News

Here are the key news stories impacting Booking this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat: BKNG reported Q4 revenue of $6.35B (+16% y/y) and EPS of $48.80, with room nights +9% and gross bookings +16% — strong operating metrics that underpin the stock’s upside. Q4 earnings highlights
• Positive Sentiment: 25-for-1 stock split: management announced a 25-to-1 split effective early April, which increases retail accessibility/liquidity and often supports demand from individual investors. MarketBeat BKNG page (split)
• Positive Sentiment: AI as a productivity lever: management highlighted generative-AI initiatives to improve personalization and conversion, which could be a medium-term margin tailwind if execution scales. Generative AI coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Forward tone: company gave constructive revenue growth guidance for the quarter (revenue growth range above some Street estimates), though currency-adjusted growth and margin cadence bear watching. Guidance & metrics comparison
• Neutral Sentiment: Documentation released: earnings transcript, slide deck and call replay are available for investors who want to dig into unit economics and regional trends. Earnings call transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst price-target cuts: multiple firms trimmed targets (examples include Susquehanna, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and others), which pressured sentiment and contributed to recent near-term weakness. Benzinga: price-target cuts / 52-week low
• Negative Sentiment: AI disintermediation fears & insider selling: investors remain concerned that big‑tech AI agents could bypass OTAs and that higher marketing spend may compress near-term margins; CEO share sales in February add a modest negative optics element. Deep dive on AI/marketing impact Read More.

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.