Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The business services provider reported $20.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $14.03 by $6.36, Briefing.com reports. Booking had a negative return on equity of 433.49% and a net margin of 21.81%. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $11.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Booking Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $3,577.38 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $3,524.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $3,399.84. Booking has a 12-month low of $2,456.93 and a 12-month high of $3,918.00. The company has a market cap of $121.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Booking’s payout ratio is 26.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total value of $14,724,670.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 33,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,826,417. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,437.25, for a total transaction of $75,619.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 189 shares in the company, valued at $649,640.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total value of $14,724,670.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 33,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,826,417. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,483 shares of company stock worth $18,891,445 over the last quarter. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BKNG. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $3,450.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $3,850.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Booking from $3,080.00 to $3,610.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Booking from $4,000.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Ten research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $3,823.00.

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.