Cantor Fitzgerald Reiterates “Neutral” Rating for Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) in a report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $3,590.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on BKNG. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $3,900.00 price target on shares of Booking in a report on Monday, August 5th. B. Riley cut their price objective on Booking from $4,900.00 to $4,650.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Booking from $4,285.00 to $4,580.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Benchmark cut their price objective on Booking from $4,700.00 to $4,600.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Booking from $4,500.00 to $4,200.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $4,064.21.

Booking Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $4,268.94 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $144.84 billion, a PE ratio of 32.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $3,777.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3,741.59. Booking has a 52-week low of $2,733.04 and a 52-week high of $4,272.88.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $39.22 by $2.68. The company had revenue of $5.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.77 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 200.87% and a net margin of 22.46%. Booking’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $37.62 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Booking will post 176.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total transaction of $388,761.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at $14,722,379.07. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total value of $3,050,737.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares in the company, valued at $100,556,375.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at $14,722,379.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Booking

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BKNG. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the first quarter valued at $401,371,000. BlueSpruce Investments LP acquired a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at $220,080,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Booking by 4,565.4% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 62,610 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $227,143,000 after buying an additional 61,268 shares in the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC raised its stake in Booking by 96.3% in the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 113,572 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $403,233,000 after buying an additional 55,716 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in Booking by 29.2% in the first quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 193,515 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $702,049,000 after buying an additional 43,743 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.