Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Price Target Lowered to $5,557.00 at UBS Group

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) had its target price trimmed by UBS Group from $5,960.00 to $5,557.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Booking from $5,000.00 to $4,800.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,005.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,750.00 to $4,850.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,100.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,263.28.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,889.95 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $4,648.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4,804.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37. Booking has a 52-week low of $3,180.00 and a 52-week high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. The business had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Booking will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. This is an increase from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 22.19%.

Institutional Trading of Booking

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in Booking by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,321,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Booking by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 905 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,495,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Booking by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,160,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Booking by 5.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $166,787,000 after buying an additional 2,010 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.