Royal Bank of Canada Raises Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Price Target to $5,250.00

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) had its price objective lifted by Royal Bank of Canada from $3,900.00 to $5,250.00 in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Booking from $4,448.00 to $4,850.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Booking from $3,940.00 to $4,510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Booking from $4,500.00 to $5,100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Booking from $4,100.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Booking from $4,205.00 to $5,155.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,680.18.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ BKNG traded up $72.86 on Friday, reaching $4,749.11. 519,752 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 247,428. Booking has a 12 month low of $2,756.39 and a 12 month high of $4,856.60. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $4,136.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3,880.99. The stock has a market cap of $159.19 billion, a PE ratio of 32.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $83.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $77.94 by $5.95. Booking had a net margin of 21.85% and a negative return on equity of 165.63%. The business had revenue of $7.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.63 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Booking will post 177.37 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $8.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. Booking’s payout ratio is 23.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was 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 directly owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Booking

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Booking by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,954,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,718,390,000 after purchasing an additional 12,456 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Booking by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 514,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,865,949,000 after acquiring an additional 21,969 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd grew its stake in shares of Booking by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 358,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,421,069,000 after acquiring an additional 10,889 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Booking by 29.2% during the 1st quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 193,515 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $702,049,000 after acquiring an additional 43,743 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Booking by 22.1% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 159,956 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $584,492,000 after acquiring an additional 28,904 shares during the period. 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.