Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Wedbush reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $3,850.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Booking from $3,450.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Booking from $3,550.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Booking from $3,080.00 to $3,610.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $3,600.00 to $3,950.00 and gave the company a market outperform rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,900.00 to $3,800.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $3,723.41.

Booking Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Booking stock opened at $3,430.14 on Thursday. Booking has a 12-month low of $2,456.93 and a 12-month high of $3,918.00. The company has a market capitalization of $117.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.08, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $3,578.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3,364.71.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $32.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $29.72 by $2.28. The business had revenue of $4.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. Booking had a net margin of 20.08% and a negative return on equity of 751.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $24.74 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Booking will post 175.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.02%. Booking’s payout ratio is 29.67%.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total transaction of $218,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 289 shares in the company, valued at $1,069,300. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total transaction of $218,300.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,069,300. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,485.00, for a total value of $1,045,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,752,005. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,461 shares of company stock worth $18,815,825. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Booking

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Monument Capital Management boosted its stake in Booking by 5.3% during the first quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 772 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,802,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 376 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,364,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Booking by 37.9% in the 1st quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 353 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,281,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Booking by 22.9% in the 1st quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 59 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $214,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its position in Booking by 14.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 24 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. 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.