Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Booking Holdings has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from 37 firms, with 28 buy ratings and an average 12-month price target of about $227.11.
• Recent analyst updates were mixed but mostly positive, with firms like B. Riley Financial, Citigroup, Gordon Haskett, and BTIG maintaining or reiterating buy ratings while trimming price targets, and Wall Street Zen downgrading the stock to hold.
• Booking reported a strong quarter, posting $1.14 EPS versus the $1.08 estimate and $5.53 billion in revenue, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share.

Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the thirty-seven ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-eight have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $227.1094.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BKNG shares. B. Riley Financial cut their price objective on Booking from $272.00 to $264.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Booking from $250.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Booking from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, March 29th. Gordon Haskett lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $217.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday, May 29th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total value of $10,229,375.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 425,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,572,025.25. The trade was a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total value of $3,100,331.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at $55,269,532.64. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their position. 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 sold a total of 80,351 shares of company stock valued at $13,545,706 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Booking by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,997,949 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $16,055,006,000 after acquiring an additional 23,159 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its stake in Booking by 191,965.8% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,832,970 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $15,171,489,000 after purchasing an additional 2,831,495 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Booking by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,435,116 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $7,685,520,000 after purchasing an additional 6,976 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Booking by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 966,121 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,173,899,000 after purchasing an additional 128,700 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in Booking by 1,497.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 870,520 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,665,168,000 after purchasing an additional 816,022 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Booking Price Performance

Booking stock opened at $184.56 on Monday. Booking has a one year low of $150.14 and a one year high of $233.58. The company's fifty day moving average price is $168.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $181.33. The company has a market capitalization of $143.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.28, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.07.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.52 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 117.14% and a net margin of 22.23%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Booking will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Booking's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.11%.

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.

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