Traders Buy Large Volume of Booking Call Options (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 21,239 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 31% compared to the average daily volume of 16,213 call options.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG stock traded up $9.15 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $195.94. The company had a trading volume of 2,527,107 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,595,986. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $172.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.43. Booking has a 52-week low of $150.14 and a 52-week high of $231.80. The company has a market capitalization of $151.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.07.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 117.14%. Booking’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.99 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Booking will post 10.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective (up from $244.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Booking from $210.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. HSBC cut their price target on Booking from $309.84 to $298.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $215.00 price target (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total transaction of $10,229,375.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 425,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,572,025.25. This trade represents a 12.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 191,965.8% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,832,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,171,489,000 after purchasing an additional 2,831,495 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in Booking by 1,497.3% during the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 870,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,665,168,000 after buying an additional 816,022 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Booking by 66,209.8% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 659,783 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $117,600,000 after buying an additional 658,788 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in Booking by 2,548.6% during the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 649,602 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $115,785,000 after buying an additional 625,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,271,041,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Company Profile

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel company that operates a portfolio of consumer brands and technology platforms that facilitate the search for and booking of travel services. The company’s businesses focus on accommodations, transportation and related travel services through consumer-facing websites and apps as well as partner distribution channels. Booking Holdings was originally founded as Priceline in the late 1990s and adopted the Booking Holdings name in 2018; it is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Its core offerings include online reservations for hotels, vacation rentals and other lodging; flight and car rental search and booking; and ancillary services that support travel planning and on-property experiences.