Citigroup Lowers Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Price Target to $225.00

Key Points

• Citigroup cut its price target on Booking to $225 from $250 but kept a "buy" rating, implying roughly a 30.9% upside from the prior close.
• Booking reported Q1 revenue up about 16% to $5.53 billion, yet management trimmed full‑year revenue growth guidance and set Q2 revenue guidance of ~$7.1–7.2B, below Street expectations due to the Middle East conflict.
• Insiders have been selling recently — CEO Glenn Fogel sold ~16,726 shares (~$3.1M) under a Rule 10b5‑1 plan — while institutional investors own about 92.4% of the stock.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) had its target price dropped by Citigroup from $250.00 to $225.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the business services provider's stock. Citigroup's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 30.92% from the stock's previous close.

Several other analysts also recently commented on BKNG. Susquehanna set a $260.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Booking from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Gordon Haskett reduced their price objective on Booking from $217.60 to $214.80 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Argus lowered their target price on Booking from $256.00 to $188.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and set a $240.00 price target on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $228.60.

Booking Trading Down 0.9%

BKNG opened at $171.86 on Wednesday. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $173.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $192.54. Booking has a 1-year low of $150.62 and a 1-year high of $233.58. The stock has a market cap of $136.08 billion, a PE ratio of 25.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.20.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $27.56 by ($26.42). The company had revenue of $5.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.51 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 128.99% and a net margin of 20.08%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.99 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Booking will post 10.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total transaction of $3,100,331.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,269,532.64. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 16,050 shares in the company, valued at $3,081,600. The trade was a 6.55% 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 have sold 60,876 shares of company stock valued at $10,559,629 over the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Booking

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its holdings in Booking by 191,965.8% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,832,970 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $15,171,489,000 after purchasing an additional 2,831,495 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,271,041,000. HF Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Booking by 28,353.8% during the fourth quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 204,298 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,094,083,000 after buying an additional 203,580 shares during the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 862.0% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 218,080 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,167,890,000 after buying an additional 195,411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 15.4% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Booking

Here are the key news stories impacting Booking this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts reaffirm/raise — BTIG reiterated a Buy and set a $250 target, and UBS nudged its target to $260, providing upside and signaling continued analyst conviction. BTIG reaffirmation (Benzinga) UBS raises target (MarketScreener)
• Positive Sentiment: Product/AI initiatives — KAYAK launched "Ask AI" and management highlighted generative-AI assistants that cut costs and boost bookings, supporting longer‑term margin tailwinds. KAYAK Ask AI launch (GlobeNewswire) AI assistants boost (PYMNTS)
• Positive Sentiment: Capital returns — Management flagged record share repurchases on the call, which supports shareholder value even as top-line headwinds persist. Earnings highlights / buybacks (Yahoo)
• Neutral Sentiment: Q1 results mixed but resilient — Gross bookings and revenue grew (~16% YoY to $5.5B); non‑GAAP EPS modestly topped some estimates, so fundamentals showed demand resilience despite regional disruption. Q1 results summary (Yahoo)
• Neutral Sentiment: Small analyst model tweaks — Erste trimmed FY26 EPS slightly (to $10.65) but the consensus remains close; some firms maintained Buy ratings even while adjusting estimates. (Research notes)
• Negative Sentiment: Guidance cut — Management reduced its full‑year revenue-growth outlook from low‑double digits to high‑single digits, citing the Middle East conflict; Q2 revenue guidance of ~$7.1–7.2B trails Street expectations (~$7.6B), a clear near‑term headwind. Outlook cut (WSJ) Press release / slides (Booking)
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades/target cuts — Robert W. Baird trimmed its price target to $215 (still Outperform); such downward revisions can cap the stock near term. Baird target cut (The Fly)

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.

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