Short Interest in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Rises By 14.5%

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 849,400 shares, an increase of 14.5% from the May 31st total of 741,900 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 224,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on BKNG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,950.00 to $4,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $4,205.00 price objective (up previously from $4,150.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Booking from $3,800.00 to $4,500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com raised Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Booking from $3,900.00 to $3,950.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,902.54.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,534.10, for a total transaction of $2,650,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 26,971 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,318,211.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,534.10, for a total transaction of $2,650,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 26,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,318,211.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,437.25, for a total value of $75,619.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $649,640.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,021 shares of company stock valued at $3,617,852. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BKNG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Booking by 0.4% during the first 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 4.5% in 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 buying an additional 21,969 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth about $1,742,160,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Booking by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 376,734 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,336,362,000 after acquiring an additional 15,381 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC raised its position in Booking by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 275,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $976,096,000 after acquiring an additional 9,419 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Booking Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Booking stock traded up $14.91 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $3,931.12. The company had a trading volume of 27,818 shares, compared to its average volume of 253,273. The stock has a market cap of $133.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.52, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.38. Booking has a 12-month low of $2,624.50 and a 12-month high of $4,040.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $3,775.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3,632.80.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $14.03 by $6.36. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.25 billion. Booking had a net margin of 21.81% and a negative return on equity of 288.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $11.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Booking will post 178.54 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were given a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

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.