Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) in a research note released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $3,900.00 target price on the business services provider’s stock.

BKNG has been the subject of several other reports. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,950.00 to $3,750.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Benchmark decreased their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,700.00 to $4,600.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,300.00 to $3,900.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Friday. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,150.00 to $4,100.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,025.00 to $3,860.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $4,068.32.

Booking Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of BKNG stock traded up $33.65 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $3,417.08. 428,771 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 259,786. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $3,863.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3,691.06. The stock has a market cap of $115.93 billion, a PE ratio of 25.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.38. Booking has a 12 month low of $2,733.04 and a 12 month high of $4,144.32.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $39.22 by $2.68. The firm had revenue of $5.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.77 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.46% and a negative return on equity of 237.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $37.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Booking will post 178.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

Insider Activity at Booking

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total transaction of $3,050,737.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,556,375.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Booking in the first quarter worth about $401,371,000. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Booking by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $57,635,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased its stake in shares of Booking by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 1,889 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,699,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Booking by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 32,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $113,827,000 after purchasing an additional 729 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank increased its stake in shares of Booking by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 18,954 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $67,234,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.