Wedbush Has Positive Outlook for Booking FY2024 Earnings

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) – Stock analysts at Wedbush boosted their FY2024 earnings estimates for shares of Booking in a report issued on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now anticipates that the business services provider will post earnings per share of $181.62 for the year, up from their prior forecast of $174.90. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $4,750.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Booking’s current full-year earnings is $177.79 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Booking’s Q4 2024 earnings at $35.96 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $21.64 EPS and Q3 2025 earnings at $95.53 EPS.

BKNG has been the subject of several other research reports. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,100.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,050.00 to $5,550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $3,560.00 to $4,900.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. B. Riley boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $4,650.00 to $5,100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $4,708.45.

Booking Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Booking stock opened at $4,776.46 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.38. Booking has a 12-month low of $2,888.45 and a 12-month high of $4,856.60. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $4,156.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3,896.46.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BKNG. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 3rd quarter valued at $5,322,600,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in Booking by 4,565.4% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 62,610 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $227,143,000 after buying an additional 61,268 shares during the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Booking by 29.2% during the first quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 193,515 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $702,049,000 after buying an additional 43,743 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Booking by 106.0% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 71,334 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $282,590,000 after buying an additional 36,710 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its stake in shares of Booking by 2,315.8% in the 2nd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 36,793 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $145,755,000 after acquiring an additional 35,270 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $8.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.75%.

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.