Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Price Target Raised to $3,950.00 at Bank of America

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) had its target price raised by Bank of America from $3,900.00 to $3,950.00 in a report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a neutral rating on the business services provider’s stock.

BKNG has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,548.00 to $3,435.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Mizuho upped their target price 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. Edward Jones reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, February 16th. 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. Finally, 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. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $3,823.00.

Booking Stock Performance

Booking stock opened at $3,598.41 on Friday. Booking has a fifty-two week low of $2,456.93 and a fifty-two week high of $3,918.00. The stock has a market cap of $122.09 billion, a PE ratio of 26.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $3,526.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3,412.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $14.03 by $6.36. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.25 billion. Booking had a net margin of 21.81% and a negative return on equity of 288.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $11.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Booking will post 176.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.25%.

Insider Activity at Booking

In other Booking news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,069,300. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,534.10, for a total value of $2,650,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 26,971 shares in the company, valued at $95,318,211.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was 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 $1,069,300. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,483 shares of company stock valued at $18,891,445 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Booking

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Booking by 8.8% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 15,301 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $47,188,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236 shares during the period. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.6% in the third quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 4,390 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,539,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $57,635,000 after buying an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth approximately $24,841,000. Finally, Advisor Resource Council boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 382.4% in the fourth quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 357 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,266,000 after buying an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by 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.