Booking’s (BKNG) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank Of Canada

Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $6,100.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. UBS Group set a $6,485.00 price objective on Booking and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Argus upped their price target on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Gordon Haskett raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $5,440.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Booking from $6,600.00 to $6,000.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Twenty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,971.64.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $4,076.79 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.11 billion, a PE ratio of 24.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.21. Booking has a 52-week low of $3,871.01 and a 52-week high of $5,839.41. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $5,007.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5,181.61.

Booking’s stock is set to split on Monday, April 6th. The 25-1 split was announced on Wednesday, February 18th. The newly issued shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Thursday, April 2nd.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $48.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $47.96 by $0.84. The firm had revenue of $6.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.12 billion. Booking had a net margin of 20.08% and a negative return on equity of 128.99%. 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. Equities research analysts predict that Booking will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Booking

In other Booking news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,191.15, for a total transaction of $77,867.25. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,566,320.05. This represents a 2.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 452 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,149.75, for a total transaction of $1,875,687.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 18,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,948,814.25. This represents a 2.38% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 3,108 shares of company stock worth $15,287,682 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Booking

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 191,965.8% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,832,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,171,489,000 after purchasing an additional 2,831,495 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at $3,271,041,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Booking by 578,824.0% during 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 buying an additional 289,412 shares during the last quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 28,353.8% in the 4th quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 204,298 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,094,083,000 after buying an additional 203,580 shares during the period. Finally, Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its stake in Booking by 862.0% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 218,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,167,890,000 after purchasing an additional 195,411 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Booking News Summary

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.