Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Royal Bank of Canada Analyst Says

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) had its price target increased by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 16.73% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on BKNG. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,850.00 to $5,522.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $5,850.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,100.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,600.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Trading Up 0.7 %

BKNG traded up $35.98 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $5,054.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 389,954 shares, compared to its average volume of 261,747. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $4,908.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $4,540.81. Booking has a 12 month low of $3,180.00 and a 12 month high of $5,337.24. The stock has a market cap of $167.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.39.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. Booking had a net margin of 21.85% and a negative return on equity of 166.06%. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Booking will post 181.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Booking

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in Booking by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,321,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV raised its holdings in Booking by 55.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 931 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,921,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Booking by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 179,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $896,455,000 after purchasing an additional 8,735 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Booking by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,160,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Booking by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $166,787,000 after purchasing an additional 2,010 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

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.