Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Short Interest Update

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 696,900 shares, a growth of 19.4% from the November 30th total of 583,500 shares. Approximately 2.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 218,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Booking

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its position in shares of Booking by 55.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 931 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,921,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd increased its position in Booking by 25.0% during the third quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 500 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,106,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Booking by 5.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $166,787,000 after acquiring an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 342,723.5% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $981,929,000 after acquiring an additional 233,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Infusive Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 75.9% during the 3rd quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,196 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,038,000 after purchasing an additional 516 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BKNG shares. B. Riley boosted their price target on Booking from $4,650.00 to $5,100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $5,850.00 price target on the stock. Argus lowered Booking from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on Booking from $3,900.00 to $4,750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4,945.96.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG stock traded down $22.45 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $4,968.42. 102,744 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 243,685. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $4,981.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4,294.60. Booking has a 52 week low of $3,180.00 and a 52 week high of $5,337.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.41.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 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.