Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Booking from $4,285.00 to $4,580.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. 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 report on Friday, August 2nd. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Booking from $4,100.00 to $5,005.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Booking from $3,560.00 to $4,900.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Booking from $4,500.00 to $5,100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4,680.18.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG stock traded up $72.86 on Friday, reaching $4,749.11. 519,752 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 247,428. The stock has a market cap of $159.19 billion, a PE ratio of 32.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.40. Booking has a one year low of $2,756.39 and a one year high of $4,856.60. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $4,136.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $3,880.99.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $83.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $77.94 by $5.95. Booking had a negative return on equity of 165.63% and a net margin of 21.85%. The firm had revenue of $7.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.63 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Booking will post 177.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.75%.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In related news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total transaction of $388,761.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. CreativeOne Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 1st quarter worth approximately $537,000. BDF Gestion acquired a new position in Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at $6,897,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new position in Booking in the 1st quarter valued at $519,000. CWM LLC grew its holdings in Booking by 11.8% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,423,000 after buying an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Booking by 16,668.9% in the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 15,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $63,569,000 after buying an additional 15,002 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.