DA Davidson Raises Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Price Target to $4,150.00

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) had its price objective hoisted by DA Davidson from $4,100.00 to $4,150.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the business services provider’s stock.

BKNG has been the topic of several other research reports. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Booking from $3,900.00 to $3,800.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Edward Jones reissued a hold rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday, February 16th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Booking from $3,600.00 to $3,950.00 and gave the stock a market outperform rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,450.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,000.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $3,823.00.

Booking Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $3,577.38 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $3,524.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $3,406.68. The stock has a market cap of $121.38 billion, a PE ratio of 26.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.40. Booking has a 12 month low of $2,456.93 and a 12 month high of $3,918.00.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $14.03 by $6.36. Booking had a net margin of 21.81% and a negative return on equity of 288.35%. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $11.60 earnings per share. Booking’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Booking will post 176.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Booking news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total value of $218,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 289 shares in the company, valued at $1,069,300. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,485.00, for a total transaction 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. Insiders sold 5,483 shares of company stock valued at $18,891,445 in the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Booking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,742,160,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Booking by 2,479.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 116,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $414,234,000 after purchasing an additional 112,249 shares during the period. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the first quarter worth $401,371,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth $3,774,850,000. Finally, BlueSpruce Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $220,080,000. 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.