UBS Group Initiates Coverage on Global Business Travel Group (NYSE:GBTG)

Equities researchers at UBS Group began coverage on shares of Global Business Travel Group (NYSE:GBTG) in a research note issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $11.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 16.53% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on GBTG. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Global Business Travel Group from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Global Business Travel Group from $9.00 to $9.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th.

Global Business Travel Group Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of GBTG stock opened at $9.44 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.44 billion, a P/E ratio of -26.22 and a beta of 0.63. Global Business Travel Group has a 1 year low of $4.49 and a 1 year high of $9.46. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $7.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Global Business Travel Group (NYSE:GBTG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $597.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $611.89 million. Global Business Travel Group had a negative net margin of 7.06% and a negative return on equity of 9.70%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.02) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Global Business Travel Group will post -0.17 EPS for the current year.

Global Business Travel Group declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, November 5th that permits the company to buyback $300.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GBTG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Global Business Travel Group by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 971,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,841,000 after acquiring an additional 10,446 shares during the period. Ionic Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Business Travel Group by 480.1% in the 1st quarter. Ionic Capital Management LLC now owns 131,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $789,000 after purchasing an additional 108,619 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Business Travel Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,383,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Global Business Travel Group by 1,116.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,007,861 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,652,000 after buying an additional 925,018 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Global Business Travel Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $108,000. 82.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Global Business Travel Group

Global Business Travel Group, Inc provides business-to-business (B2B) travel platform in the United States and internationally. The company's platform offers a suite of technology-enabled solutions to business travelers and clients; travel content suppliers, such as airlines, hotels, ground transportation, and aggregators; and third-party travel agencies.