Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Forecasted to Earn Q3 2024 Earnings of $79.13 Per Share

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) – Stock analysts at Wedbush reduced their Q3 2024 EPS estimates for Booking in a research report issued on Friday, May 3rd. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now anticipates that the business services provider will post earnings of $79.13 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $81.14. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $3,850.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Booking’s current full-year earnings is $176.46 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Booking’s Q4 2024 earnings at $36.02 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $172.54 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $195.91 EPS.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on BKNG. Barclays decreased their price objective on Booking from $3,900.00 to $3,800.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,450.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $3,800.00 to $4,500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, B. Riley started coverage on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $4,400.00 price target for the company. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3,844.48.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of Booking stock opened at $3,605.41 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $3,528.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3,418.38. Booking has a 12 month low of $2,456.93 and a 12 month high of $3,918.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $122.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.04, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $14.03 by $6.36. The firm had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.25 billion. Booking had a net margin of 21.81% and a negative return on equity of 288.35%. The company’s revenue was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $11.60 EPS.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Booking

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in Booking by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 15,301 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,188,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236 shares during the last quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Booking by 0.6% in the third quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 4,390 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,539,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Booking by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $57,635,000 after buying an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp bought a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,841,000. Finally, Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $879,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total transaction of $14,724,670.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 33,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,826,417. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,534.10, for a total transaction of $2,650,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 26,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,318,211.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total value of $14,724,670.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 33,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,826,417. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,424 shares of company stock valued at $18,673,145. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 26.25%.

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.