StockNews.com Lowers Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) to Hold

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

BKNG has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Booking from $3,900.00 to $4,500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Booking from $4,275.00 to $4,105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $3,590.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Booking in a research report on Friday, September 6th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $4,100.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Booking from $4,500.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4,164.11.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG stock opened at $4,313.01 on Thursday. Booking has a 12 month low of $2,733.04 and a 12 month high of $4,395.00. The firm has a market cap of $146.33 billion, a PE ratio of 32.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $4,029.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3,838.71.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $39.22 by $2.68. Booking had a net margin of 22.46% and a negative return on equity of 200.87%. The business had revenue of $5.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $37.62 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Booking will post 177.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Booking

In related news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total value of $388,761.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Booking

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its holdings in Booking by 20.5% in the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 2,348 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,518,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Booking in the 1st quarter valued at $537,000. BDF Gestion bought a new stake in Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at $6,897,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new stake in Booking in the 1st quarter valued at $519,000. Finally, Diversified Trust Co boosted its holdings in Booking by 41.9% in the 1st quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 1,084 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,933,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is 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.