Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Friday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $4,025.00 to $3,860.00. The stock had previously closed at $3,664.18, but opened at $3,311.59. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Booking shares last traded at $3,425.47, with a volume of 79,410 shares trading hands.

BKNG has been the topic of a number of other research reports. HSBC lifted their target price on Booking from $4,220.00 to $4,230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Booking from $3,494.00 to $3,497.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Argus increased their target price on shares of Booking from $4,200.00 to $4,342.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $4,085.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total value of $3,050,737.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,556,375.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total value of $3,050,737.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 227 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,580.75, for a total value of $812,830.25. Following the sale, the insider now owns 4,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,157,314.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Booking in the 1st quarter worth about $401,371,000. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $57,635,000 after acquiring an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp purchased a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,841,000. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased its position in Booking by 35.7% during the fourth quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 1,889 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,699,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its stake in Booking by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 32,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $113,827,000 after purchasing an additional 729 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $116.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.39. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $3,881.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $3,690.58.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $39.22 by $2.68. The firm had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.77 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 288.35% and a net margin of 21.81%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $37.62 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 178.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Company Profile

Booking Holdings Inc, formerly The Priceline Group Inc, is a provider of travel and restaurant online reservation and related services. The Company, through its online travel companies (OTCs), connects consumers wishing to make travel reservations with providers of travel services across the world. It offers consumers an array of accommodation reservations (including hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, apartments, vacation rentals and other properties) through its Booking.com, priceline.com and agoda.com brands.