Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-three ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-one have given a buy recommendation and three have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $6,002.8929.

A number of research firms recently commented on BKNG. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $5,750.00 price objective (up from $5,077.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $5,900.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Booking from $5,418.00 to $5,443.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,511.80, for a total value of $352,755.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 131 shares in the company, valued at approximately $722,045.80. The trade was a 32.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 625 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,141.53, for a total value of $3,213,456.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 22,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $118,162,642.46. The trade was a 2.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 3,197 shares of company stock worth $17,260,963. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Booking

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BKNG. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 150.0% during the third quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Booking during the first quarter worth $28,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in Booking during the second quarter worth $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Booking by 400.0% during the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 4 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new stake in Booking during the first quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $5,120.57 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $5,417.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $5,382.85. Booking has a 12 month low of $4,096.23 and a 12 month high of $5,839.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.61, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.35.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. The company had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.19% and a net margin of 19.23%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $83.39 earnings per share. Booking has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Booking will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.