Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Reaches New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $4,350.00 to $5,050.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Booking traded as high as $4,395.00 and last traded at $4,381.67, with a volume of 82232 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $4,363.72.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Booking from $4,500.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Booking from $3,950.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. B. Riley reduced their price target on Booking from $4,900.00 to $4,650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Booking from $3,976.00 to $4,173.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Booking from $4,285.00 to $4,580.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $4,164.11.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total value of $388,761.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Booking during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,322,600,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Booking by 4,565.4% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 62,610 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $227,143,000 after acquiring an additional 61,268 shares in the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Booking by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 193,515 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $702,049,000 after acquiring an additional 43,743 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Booking by 106.0% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 71,334 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $282,590,000 after acquiring an additional 36,710 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Booking by 2,315.8% in the 2nd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 36,793 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $145,755,000 after acquiring an additional 35,270 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $146.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $4,029.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $3,838.71.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $39.22 by $2.68. The firm had revenue of $5.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.77 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 200.87% and a net margin of 22.46%. The business’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $37.62 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $8.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

About Booking

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.