Citigroup Raises Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Price Target to $5,800.00

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) had its target price lifted by research analysts at Citigroup from $5,500.00 to $5,800.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price target indicates a potential upside of 16.25% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on BKNG. Argus cut shares of Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Booking from $4,205.00 to $5,155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,575.00 to $5,750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $4,989.22 on Friday. Booking has a one year low of $3,180.00 and a one year high of $5,337.24. The company has a 50-day moving average of $4,903.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4,559.90. The stock has a market cap of $165.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.83, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.39.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.60%. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. Analysts anticipate that Booking will post 207.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Booking

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BKNG. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 621,874.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,295,423,000 after purchasing an additional 864,406 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,958,352,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 342,723.5% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $981,929,000 after purchasing an additional 233,052 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Booking by 51.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 280,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,283,000 after purchasing an additional 95,308 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Booking by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 368,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,831,499,000 after acquiring an additional 58,357 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Company Profile

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.