BTIG Research Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by analysts at BTIG Research in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $250.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock. BTIG Research’s price target points to a potential upside of 28.69% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Argus set a $210.00 target price on shares of Booking and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Wedbush started coverage on Booking in a report on Thursday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $211.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Booking from $224.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $214.00 price objective on Booking and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.34.

Booking Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of BKNG opened at $194.27 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $150.54 billion, a PE ratio of 25.55, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.07. Booking has a 1 year low of $150.14 and a 1 year high of $231.80. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $176.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.82.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.19 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 117.14% and a net margin of 22.23%.The business’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $55.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Booking will post 10.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Booking

In other Booking news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total value of $10,229,375.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 16,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,169,536. This trade represents a 6.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 68,625 shares of company stock valued at $11,445,375 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Booking

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Booking by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,997,949 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,055,006,000 after purchasing an additional 23,159 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 191,965.8% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,832,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,171,489,000 after purchasing an additional 2,831,495 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Booking by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,435,116 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,685,520,000 after buying an additional 6,976 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Booking by 15.4% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 966,121 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,173,899,000 after buying an additional 128,700 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $3,665,168,000 after buying an additional 816,022 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Booking

Here are the key news stories impacting Booking this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results exceeded expectations: Revenue increased 8.1% year over year to $7.35 billion, topping the $7.19 billion consensus estimate, while non-GAAP earnings of $2.54 per share beat estimates by roughly 4%. The company also surpassed the high end of its guidance across key operating metrics. Booking Beats Q2 Sales Expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Travel demand remained healthy: Strong domestic and regional travel helped offset continued weakness in long-haul international travel and earlier concerns about Middle East-related demand. The performance suggests Booking continues to benefit from solid consumer demand for travel. Booking Reports Higher Revenue on Strong Travel Demand
• Positive Sentiment: AI strategy could reinforce Booking’s competitive position: Management’s focus is on owning the transaction—including inventory, pricing, cancellations, customer authentication, payments and supplier settlement—rather than merely allowing generative AI tools to recommend trips. That approach could help preserve Booking’s role and monetization opportunities as AI changes travel search. AI Can Plan the Trip but Booking Wants the Transaction
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street’s average recommendation remains equivalent to Buy, but the usefulness of highly optimistic analyst ratings is being questioned because such ratings may already reflect much of the favorable outlook. Wall Street Views on Booking
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter guidance fell short of expectations: Booking projected revenue of approximately $9.4 billion to $9.5 billion, below the $9.7 billion analyst consensus. Continued pressure on long-haul international travel and geopolitical uncertainty remain risks to future growth.

About Booking

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.