Truist Financial Begins Coverage on Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Briefing.com reports. The firm set a “hold” rating and a $4,100.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock. Truist Financial’s price target points to a potential upside of 8.41% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on BKNG. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $3,590.00 target price for the company. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Booking from $4,150.00 to $4,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Booking from $4,600.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Booking from $4,500.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $3,900.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4,064.21.

Booking Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $3,781.88 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $3,778.29 and a 200 day moving average of $3,699.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.40. Booking has a 12-month low of $2,733.04 and a 12-month high of $4,144.32.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $39.22 by $2.68. The company had revenue of $5.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.77 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.46% and a negative return on equity of 200.87%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $37.62 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Booking will post 177.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total value of $388,761.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at $14,722,379.07. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total value of $388,761.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at $14,722,379.07. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total transaction of $3,050,737.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 24,721 shares in the company, valued at $100,556,375.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in Booking during the 1st quarter worth about $401,371,000. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft grew its holdings in Booking by 35.7% during the 4th quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 1,889 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,699,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Booking by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 32,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $113,827,000 after acquiring an additional 729 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank grew its holdings in Booking by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 18,954 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $67,234,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV grew its holdings in Booking by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 13,618 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $48,306,000 after acquiring an additional 817 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.