Analysts Set Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Price Target at $236.45

Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-six brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $236.4529.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $188.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday. Wedbush boosted their price target on Booking from $211.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. DA Davidson set a $240.00 price objective on Booking in a report on Thursday, August 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $266.00 to $274.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $234.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th.

Booking Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of Booking stock opened at $205.63 on Tuesday. Booking has a 12 month low of $150.14 and a 12 month high of $226.10. The stock has a market cap of $154.51 billion, a PE ratio of 22.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $192.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.64.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $7.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.19 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 102.96% and a net margin of 25.53%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $55.40 EPS. Analysts expect that Booking will post 10.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 18.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, CFO Ewout L. Steenbergen sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.03, for a total transaction of $4,220,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 59,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,618,327.82. The trade was a 25.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 16,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,200,000. The trade was a 23.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 77,550 shares of company stock worth $16,112,304. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Corient Private Wealth LP boosted its stake in Booking by 2,186.0% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 585,708 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $104,397,000 after buying an additional 560,086 shares in the last quarter. Formuepleje A S acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,504,000. Giverny Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 2,375.1% during the 2nd quarter. Giverny Capital Inc. now owns 522,664 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $93,160,000 after acquiring an additional 501,547 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Booking by 2,833.0% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 5,923,013 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,055,718,000 after acquiring an additional 5,721,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 2,591.6% during the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 250,692 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,683,000 after acquiring an additional 241,378 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.