Analysts Set Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Price Target at $5,370.43

Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-one brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $5,370.43.

BKNG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Baird R W upgraded shares of Booking to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Benchmark upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $5,120.00 price target (up previously from $4,900.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,005.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $4,589.03 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $150.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $4,792.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4,689.82. Booking has a one year low of $3,180.00 and a one year high of $5,337.24.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $35.82 by $5.73. The business had revenue of $5.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. On average, research analysts expect that Booking will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $8.75. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.19%.

Institutional Trading of Booking

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Booking by 621,874.8% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,295,423,000 after buying an additional 864,406 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter valued at $1,958,352,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Booking by 342,723.5% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $981,929,000 after buying an additional 233,052 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Booking by 51.4% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 280,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,283,000 after buying an additional 95,308 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Booking by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 368,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,831,499,000 after buying an additional 58,357 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

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.