Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Earns “Buy” Rating from BTIG Research

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities research analysts at BTIG Research in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $250.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock. BTIG Research’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 58.67% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $215.00 price target on shares of Booking and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 14th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective (up from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective (up from $195.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Argus upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $210.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.98.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG stock traded up $1.66 during trading on Thursday, reaching $157.56. The company had a trading volume of 1,540,979 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,229,877. Booking has a 52 week low of $150.14 and a 52 week high of $225.00. The company has a market cap of $118.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.48, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50 day moving average of $192.38 and a 200 day moving average of $179.07.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.11. Booking had a net margin of 25.53% and a negative return on equity of 102.96%. The company had revenue of $7.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $55.40 earnings per share. Booking’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Booking will post 10.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 50,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.59, for a total transaction of $10,389,879.50. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 375,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,851,439.75. This represents a 11.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Wittman sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.00, for a total transaction of $79,125.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 16,133 shares in the company, valued at $3,404,063. This trade represents a 2.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 83,050 shares of company stock valued at $17,182,275 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Booking

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its stake in Booking by 191,965.8% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,832,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,171,489,000 after buying an additional 2,831,495 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Booking during the second quarter worth about $11,646,302,000. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Booking by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,435,116 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,685,520,000 after acquiring an additional 6,976 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in shares of Booking by 1,497.3% during the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 870,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,665,168,000 after acquiring an additional 816,022 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,271,041,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Booking

Booking Holdings Inc is a global provider of online travel and related services. The company connects consumers with accommodations, flights, rental cars, restaurants and travel experiences through a portfolio of digital brands and websites.

Its principal brands include Booking.com, which offers lodging, transportation and travel experiences; Priceline, which provides online booking services for hotels, flights, rental cars and vacation packages; Agoda, which focuses primarily on travel bookings in Asia and other international markets; KAYAK, a travel metasearch engine; OpenTable, a restaurant reservation and management platform; and Rentalcars.com, a global car rental service.

Booking Holdings serves customers, travel providers and restaurants across numerous countries and regions, with a particularly extensive international presence.