Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the thirty-one analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-three have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $3,980.15.

BKNG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $3,950.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Monday, May 6th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Booking from $3,800.00 to $4,300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Booking from $3,800.00 to $4,500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday.

Booking Stock Down 3.1 %

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $3,989.64 on Thursday. Booking has a 52 week low of $2,733.04 and a 52 week high of $4,144.32. The company has a market capitalization of $135.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $3,876.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3,667.75.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $14.03 by $6.36. Booking had a negative return on equity of 288.35% and a net margin of 21.81%. The company had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $11.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Booking will post 178.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a $8.75 dividend. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Booking news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,437.25, for a total transaction of $75,619.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $649,640.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,556,375.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 999 shares of company stock valued at $3,939,187. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Booking

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,742,160,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 2,479.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 116,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $414,234,000 after buying an additional 112,249 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 1st quarter worth approximately $401,371,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,774,850,000. Finally, BlueSpruce Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $220,080,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.