UBS Group Increases Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Price Target to $5,960.00

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) had its price objective raised by equities research analysts at UBS Group from $5,560.00 to $5,960.00 in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the business services provider’s stock. UBS Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 19.46% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on BKNG. Cfra upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Booking from $4,470.00 to $5,248.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Booking from $5,575.00 to $5,750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Booking from $4,580.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Nine investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,370.43.

Booking Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,989.22 on Friday. Booking has a 52 week low of $3,180.00 and a 52 week high of $5,337.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.13 billion, a PE ratio of 28.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $4,903.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $4,559.90.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.60% and a net margin of 24.78%. The firm had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Booking will post 207.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Booking

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in 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. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Booking by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 803,125 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,986,244,000 after purchasing an additional 6,009 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Booking by 0.5% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 492,274 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,073,508,000 after purchasing an additional 2,321 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Booking by 3.3% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 418,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,763,797,000 after purchasing an additional 13,429 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,958,352,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.