BMO Capital Markets Reaffirms "Outperform" Rating for Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Key Points

• BMO Capital Markets has raised the price target for Booking Holdings (NASDAQ:BKNG) from $5,700 to $6,000, indicating a potential upside of 6.25% from the stock's previous close.
• The stock saw a 1.0% increase during trading, reaching $5,646.95, with its average price target now sitting at $5,718.07.
• Booking posted strong quarterly earnings, reporting $55.40 EPS, exceeding analysts' expectations and reflecting a 16.0% revenue growth year-over-year.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reiterated by analysts at BMO Capital Markets in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $6,000.00 target price on the business services provider's stock, up from their prior target price of $5,700.00. BMO Capital Markets' price target would suggest a potential upside of 11.39% from the company's previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating and issued a $6,700.00 price objective (up from $6,100.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,411.00 to $5,418.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,550.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $5,781.04.

Booking Stock Down 2.1%

BKNG opened at $5,386.29 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $174.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.46, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $5,568.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $5,074.51. Booking has a twelve month low of $3,180.00 and a twelve month high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $50.32 by $5.08. The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. Booking had a net margin of 19.23% and a negative return on equity of 134.19%. The company's revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $41.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Booking will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,695.00, for a total transaction of $5,769,035.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,633 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $151,674,935. The trade was a 3.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,039 shares of company stock worth $16,963,769. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Booking by 521,609.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,363,345 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $10,887,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,362,892 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Booking by 1,411.9% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 112,201 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $516,900,000 after buying an additional 104,780 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Booking by 79.4% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 154,206 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $695,259,000 after buying an additional 68,243 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Booking by 182.2% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 104,643 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $482,081,000 after buying an additional 67,562 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Booking by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 368,628 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,831,499,000 after purchasing an additional 58,357 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Booking

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.