BTIG Research Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at BTIG Research in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $250.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock. BTIG Research’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 47.21% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Booking from $224.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Booking from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $215.00 target price on shares of Booking and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lowered their target price on shares of Booking from $244.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.14.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $169.82 on Friday. Booking has a 1 year low of $150.14 and a 1 year high of $233.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $131.59 billion, a PE ratio of 22.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $170.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $186.57.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.06. Booking had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 117.14%. The business had revenue of $5.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Booking will post 10.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 16,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,081,600. This represents a 6.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total transaction of $10,229,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 425,075 shares in the company, valued at $69,572,025.25. The trade was a 12.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 97,076 shares of company stock valued at $16,417,121 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Booking

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $700,000 after buying an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Booking by 0.5% during the third quarter. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC now owns 428 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,311,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the period. Centric Wealth Management grew its holdings in Booking by 2.5% during the third quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 82 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $416,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the period. Oakworth Capital Inc. grew its holdings in Booking by 50.0% during the third quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the period. Finally, Monetary Management Group Inc. grew its holdings in Booking by 1.1% during the third quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. now owns 188 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,015,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

About Booking

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel company that operates a portfolio of consumer brands and technology platforms that facilitate the search for and booking of travel services. The company’s businesses focus on accommodations, transportation and related travel services through consumer-facing websites and apps as well as partner distribution channels. Booking Holdings was originally founded as Priceline in the late 1990s and adopted the Booking Holdings name in 2018; it is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Its core offerings include online reservations for hotels, vacation rentals and other lodging; flight and car rental search and booking; and ancillary services that support travel planning and on-property experiences.