Investment Analysts’ Weekly Ratings Updates for Booking (BKNG)

Several brokerages have updated their recommendations and price targets on shares of Booking (NASDAQ: BKNG) in the last few weeks:

• 4/18/2024 – Booking had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Wedbush. They now have a $3,850.00 price target on the stock.
• 4/11/2024 – Booking was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating.
• 4/3/2024 – Booking was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating.
• 4/3/2024 – Booking is now covered by analysts at B. Riley. They set a “buy” rating and a $4,400.00 price target on the stock.
• 3/22/2024 – Booking was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating.
• 3/13/2024 – Booking had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Erste Group Bank AG.
• 2/26/2024 – Booking had its price target raised by analysts at Susquehanna from $3,600.00 to $4,100.00. They now have a “positive” rating on the stock.
• 2/26/2024 – Booking had its price target raised by analysts at JMP Securities from $3,600.00 to $3,950.00. They now have a “market outperform” rating on the stock.
• 2/26/2024 – Booking was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating.
• 2/23/2024 – Booking had its price target raised by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $3,560.00 to $3,950.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 2/23/2024 – Booking had its price target lowered by analysts at Barclays PLC from $3,900.00 to $3,800.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 2/23/2024 – Booking had its price target lowered by analysts at Evercore ISI from $3,900.00 to $3,800.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 2/23/2024 – Booking had its price target raised by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $3,550.00 to $3,900.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 2/23/2024 – Booking had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Wedbush. They now have a $3,850.00 price target on the stock.
• 2/23/2024 – Booking had its price target lowered by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $3,548.00 to $3,435.00. They now have an “equal weight” rating on the stock.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG traded up $48.18 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $3,463.00. The stock had a trading volume of 202,324 shares, compared to its average volume of 272,412. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $3,571.22 and a 200-day moving average of $3,371.70. The company has a market capitalization of $118.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $2,456.93 and a 12-month high of $3,918.00.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $32.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $29.72 by $2.28. The firm had revenue of $4.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. Booking had a net margin of 20.08% and a negative return on equity of 751.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $24.74 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 175.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 29.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total transaction of $14,724,670.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 33,548 shares in the company, valued at $114,826,417. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,534.10, for a total transaction of $2,650,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 26,971 shares in the company, valued at $95,318,211.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total transaction of $14,724,670.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 33,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,826,417. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 5,461 shares of company stock worth $18,815,825. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Booking

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in Booking by 8.8% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 15,301 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,188,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236 shares during the last quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 4,390 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,539,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $57,635,000 after buying an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $24,841,000. Finally, Advisor Resource Council boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 382.4% in the 4th quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 357 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,266,000 after buying an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

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.