Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Sets New 52-Week High at $4,149.20

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $4,149.20 and last traded at $4,130.00, with a volume of 39088 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4,097.08.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BKNG. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. StockNews.com cut Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Booking from $4,275.00 to $4,105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays dropped their price target on Booking from $4,300.00 to $3,900.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $3,590.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Monday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4,064.21.

Booking Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $3,772.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3,733.66. The company has a market capitalization of $141.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.93, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $39.22 by $2.68. The company had revenue of $5.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.77 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 200.87% and a net margin of 22.46%. Booking’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $37.62 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $8.75 dividend. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 26.25%.

Insider Activity at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total transaction of $3,050,737.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 24,721 shares in the company, valued at $100,556,375.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total value of $3,050,737.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total value of $388,761.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Booking

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the first quarter valued at approximately $401,371,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in Booking by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 32,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $113,827,000 after purchasing an additional 729 shares during the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 20.5% during the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 2,348 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,518,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in shares of Booking by 50.2% in the fourth quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 1,663 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,904,000 after buying an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 14.2% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,354 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,540,000 after buying an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. 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.