BMO Capital Markets Reiterates “Outperform” Rating for Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by stock analysts at BMO Capital Markets in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $4,205.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $4,150.00. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 17.54% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Booking from $3,450.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Booking from $3,080.00 to $3,610.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Booking from $3,600.00 to $3,950.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Booking from $4,000.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Booking from $3,580.00 to $4,250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,823.00.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG stock opened at $3,577.38 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $3,524.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3,399.84. The company has a market capitalization of $121.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.40. Booking has a 12 month low of $2,456.93 and a 12 month high of $3,918.00.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $14.03 by $6.36. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.25 billion. Booking had a net margin of 21.81% and a negative return on equity of 433.49%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $11.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Booking will post 176.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total transaction of $218,300.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,069,300. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 300 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,485.00, for a total value of $1,045,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 4,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,752,005. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total transaction of $218,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,069,300. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,483 shares of company stock valued at $18,891,445. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Booking

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Booking by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 895 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,247,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Team Hewins LLC increased its holdings in Booking by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Team Hewins LLC now owns 182 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $660,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group grew its stake in shares of Booking by 4.7% in the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Booking by 23.9% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 270 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $980,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalina Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the first quarter worth $486,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

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.