Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Upgraded to “Outperform” at Wedbush

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) was upgraded by Wedbush from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $6,000.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock. Wedbush’s target price suggests a potential upside of 15.93% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Tuesday. Seaport Global Securities boosted their target price on Booking from $6,030.00 to $6,260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. B. Riley increased their price target on Booking from $6,700.00 to $6,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,200.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6,121.23.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG stock opened at $5,175.58 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $166.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.64, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.34. Booking has a 1-year low of $4,096.23 and a 1-year high of $5,839.41. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $5,281.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5,413.02.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. The company had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $83.39 earnings per share. Booking has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Booking will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,800,000. This trade represents a 4.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,291.98, for a total value of $79,379.70. Following the sale, the director owned 732 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,873,729.36. This trade represents a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,437 shares of company stock worth $18,460,963. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the second quarter worth $2,210,917,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Booking by 578,824.0% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,675,765,000 after buying an additional 289,412 shares during the last quarter. Vestor Capital LLC increased its position in Booking by 658,925.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 105,444 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $610,441,000 after buying an additional 105,428 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Booking by 1,411.9% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 112,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $516,900,000 after buying an additional 104,780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. purchased a new stake in Booking in the second quarter valued at about $536,675,000. 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.