Cantor Fitzgerald Begins Coverage on Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) in a research note released on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $3,590.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on BKNG. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $4,200.00 to $4,342.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Booking from $4,275.00 to $4,105.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Booking from a buy rating to a hold rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $4,350.00 to $4,200.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Booking from $3,497.00 to $3,976.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Booking from $4,285.00 to $4,580.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Ten 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $4,062.89.

Booking Stock Down 0.5 %

BKNG stock opened at $3,781.88 on Thursday. Booking has a 52-week low of $2,733.04 and a 52-week high of $4,144.32. The firm has a market cap of $126.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.36, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $3,778.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3,699.70.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $39.22 by $2.68. The company had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.77 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 200.87% and a net margin of 22.46%. Booking’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $37.62 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Booking will post 177.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Booking’s payout ratio is 26.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total transaction of $3,050,737.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares in the company, valued at $100,556,375.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total value of $3,050,737.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,556,375.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its holdings in Booking by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 352 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,277,000 after buying an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp raised its stake in shares of Booking by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 110 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Booking by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 358 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,270,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the period. PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd grew its stake in Booking by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd now owns 863 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,061,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in Booking by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 624 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,264,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.