Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-two brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $4,972.75.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BKNG shares. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $4,200.00 to $4,300.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Booking from $3,560.00 to $4,900.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Booking from $3,940.00 to $4,510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $4,600.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Booking

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 967 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,831,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. bought a new stake in Booking during the second quarter valued at about $214,000. Fiera Capital Corp grew its stake in Booking by 29.4% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,836 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,273,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Booking in the second quarter worth about $333,000. Finally, Naviter Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 391 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,549,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Booking Trading Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,872.42 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $5,056.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $4,338.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $161.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.41. Booking has a 12-month low of $3,180.00 and a 12-month high of $5,337.24.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Booking’s payout ratio is 23.75%.

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.