Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Receives $4,068.32 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-nine brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $4,068.32.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays dropped their price target on Booking from $4,300.00 to $3,900.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Booking from $4,600.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Wedbush lifted their price target on Booking from $3,850.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Booking from $4,275.00 to $4,105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd.

Booking Stock Up 1.4 %

Booking stock opened at $3,443.05 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $115.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.82, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $3,833.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3,687.19. Booking has a 52 week low of $2,733.04 and a 52 week high of $4,144.32.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $39.22 by $2.68. The firm had revenue of $5.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.77 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 200.87% and a net margin of 22.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $37.62 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Booking will post 177.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.02%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.25%.

Insider Activity at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Booking by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,954,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,718,390,000 after purchasing an additional 12,456 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Booking by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 514,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,865,949,000 after buying an additional 21,969 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter worth about $1,742,160,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Booking by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 376,734 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,336,362,000 after buying an additional 15,381 shares during the period. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd grew its position in shares of Booking by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 358,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,421,069,000 after buying an additional 10,889 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

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.