Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Rating Lowered to Hold at Erste Group Bank

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) was downgraded by investment analysts at Erste Group Bank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

BKNG has been the subject of several other research reports. DA Davidson raised their target price on Booking from $5,005.00 to $5,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Cfra upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. B. Riley lifted their price objective on Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Booking from $4,580.00 to $5,600.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,370.43.

Booking Price Performance

Booking stock opened at $4,471.51 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $146.73 billion, a PE ratio of 25.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40. Booking has a one year low of $3,180.00 and a one year high of $5,337.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $4,803.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4,691.22.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. The business had revenue of $5.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 159.34% and a net margin of 24.78%. Equities analysts anticipate that Booking will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Booking

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

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.