Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Thursday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $5,400.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,250.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,575.00 to $5,750.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Cfra raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,617.26 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $151.52 billion, a PE ratio of 26.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a fifty day moving average of $4,789.60 and a 200 day moving average of $4,700.90. Booking has a 1 year low of $3,180.00 and a 1 year high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. The company had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.18 billion. Research analysts expect that Booking will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.19%.

Institutional Trading of Booking

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in Booking by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,321,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Booking by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 179,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $896,455,000 after acquiring an additional 8,735 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Booking by 20.3% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 905 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,495,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Booking by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,160,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Booking by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $166,787,000 after acquiring an additional 2,010 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.