BMO Capital Markets Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Stock

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) had its price target lifted by research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $6,000.00 to $6,200.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the business services provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 52.08% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on BKNG. Argus increased their target price on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 4th. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $7,447.00 to $7,656.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on Booking from $5,433.00 to $5,407.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Booking from $5,800.00 to $5,600.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Twenty-eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,971.64.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG stock opened at $4,076.79 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $129.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.54, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $5,007.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $5,183.53. Booking has a 52-week low of $3,871.01 and a 52-week high of $5,839.41.

Shares of Booking are set to split on Monday, April 6th. The 25-1 split was announced on Wednesday, February 18th. The newly minted shares will be payable to shareholders after the closing bell on Thursday, April 2nd.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $48.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $47.96 by $0.84. Booking had a negative return on equity of 128.99% and a net margin of 20.08%.The firm had revenue of $6.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $41.55 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Booking will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 452 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,149.75, for a total transaction of $1,875,687.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 18,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,948,814.25. This represents a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,191.15, for a total value of $77,867.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,566,320.05. This represents a 2.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 3,108 shares of company stock worth $15,287,682 over the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp acquired a new position in Booking during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC boosted its position 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 buying an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Guerra Advisors Inc bought a new stake in Booking during the third quarter worth $27,000. Daytona Street Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Legacy Bridge LLC bought a new position in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Booking

Here are the key news stories impacting Booking this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat: BKNG reported Q4 revenue of $6.35B (+16% y/y) and EPS of $48.80, with room nights +9% and gross bookings +16% — strong operating metrics that underpin the stock’s upside. Q4 earnings highlights
• Positive Sentiment: 25-for-1 stock split: management announced a 25-to-1 split effective early April, which increases retail accessibility/liquidity and often supports demand from individual investors. MarketBeat BKNG page (split)
• Positive Sentiment: AI as a productivity lever: management highlighted generative-AI initiatives to improve personalization and conversion, which could be a medium-term margin tailwind if execution scales. Generative AI coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Forward tone: company gave constructive revenue growth guidance for the quarter (revenue growth range above some Street estimates), though currency-adjusted growth and margin cadence bear watching. Guidance & metrics comparison
• Neutral Sentiment: Documentation released: earnings transcript, slide deck and call replay are available for investors who want to dig into unit economics and regional trends. Earnings call transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst price-target cuts: multiple firms trimmed targets (examples include Susquehanna, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and others), which pressured sentiment and contributed to recent near-term weakness. Benzinga: price-target cuts / 52-week low
• Negative Sentiment: AI disintermediation fears & insider selling: investors remain concerned that big‑tech AI agents could bypass OTAs and that higher marketing spend may compress near-term margins; CEO share sales in February add a modest negative optics element. Deep dive on AI/marketing impact Read More.

Booking Company Profile

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.