Booking’s (BKNG) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at BTIG Research

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at BTIG Research in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $250.00 target price on the business services provider’s stock. BTIG Research’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 53.45% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on BKNG. Truist Financial set a $242.00 price objective on Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Rosenblatt Securities assumed coverage on shares of Booking in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $245.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $215.00 price objective (up from $195.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up from $215.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, August 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.24.

Booking Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG traded up $0.58 on Thursday, reaching $162.92. 8,071,480 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,265,133. The stock has a market capitalization of $122.41 billion, a PE ratio of 18.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.07. Booking has a fifty-two week low of $150.14 and a fifty-two week high of $225.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $190.53 and a 200 day moving average of $178.58.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.19 billion. Booking had a net margin of 25.53% and a negative return on equity of 102.96%. Booking’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $55.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Booking will post 10.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other Booking news, Director Vanessa Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 16,508 shares in the company, valued at $3,169,536. This trade represents a 6.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.48, for a total value of $610,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 73,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,935,432. The trade was a 3.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 83,050 shares of company stock valued at $17,182,275 in the last three months. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Booking during the 2nd quarter worth $11,646,302,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Booking by 2,674.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 39,420,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,026,348,000 after purchasing an additional 37,999,915 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Booking during the second quarter worth about $1,691,186,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Booking in the second quarter worth about $1,370,455,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Booking by 2,525.5% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,101,866 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,087,597,000 after purchasing an additional 5,869,459 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Booking Company Profile

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel and restaurant reservation company headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut. Through its digital platforms, the company helps consumers search for, compare and reserve accommodations, flights, rental cars, vacation packages, attractions and restaurant reservations.

Its portfolio includes Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, KAYAK, OpenTable, Rentalcars.com and the travel metasearch brands Momondo and Cheapflights. Booking.com is primarily known for lodging reservations, while Priceline focuses on travel deals, Agoda serves customers across international markets with a strong presence in Asia, KAYAK and its related brands provide travel search and comparison services, and OpenTable operates a restaurant reservation platform.

The company was founded in 1997 as Priceline.com and was later renamed The Priceline Group before adopting the Booking Holdings name in 2018.