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

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after JMP Securities raised their price target on the stock from $3,950.00 to $5,000.00. JMP Securities currently has a market outperform rating on the stock. Booking traded as high as $4,371.17 and last traded at $4,366.32, with a volume of 16695 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $4,297.72.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Booking from $3,900.00 to $4,500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $3,590.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Booking from $3,976.00 to $4,173.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Booking from $4,500.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,025.00 to $3,860.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $4,130.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total transaction of $388,761.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Booking

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at $276,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 47.7% in the 4th quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 96 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $341,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. SageView Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 163.1% in the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 221 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $786,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 14.2% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,354 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,540,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 205 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $744,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average is $3,922.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3,807.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.15 billion, a PE ratio of 32.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $5.77 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.46% and a negative return on equity of 200.87%. Booking’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $37.62 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.