Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-one ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $5,299.29.

Several brokerages have weighed in on BKNG. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,960.00 to $5,557.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Cfra raised Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. B. Riley boosted their price target on Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price 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.

Booking Trading Down 0.5 %

BKNG opened at $5,166.86 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $4,660.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4,833.19. Booking has a 1-year low of $3,180.00 and a 1-year high of $5,337.24. The stock has a market cap of $168.13 billion, a PE ratio of 29.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.42.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $24.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $17.57 by $7.24. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.58 billion. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. Booking’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $20.39 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Booking will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.89%.

Institutional Trading of Booking

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Booking by 521,609.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,363,345 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,887,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,362,892 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 621,874.8% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,295,423,000 after acquiring an additional 864,406 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 803,125 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,986,244,000 after acquiring an additional 6,009 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,958,352,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Booking by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 368,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,831,499,000 after purchasing an additional 58,357 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.