Short Interest in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Grows By 23.1%

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 774,900 shares, a growth of 23.1% from the August 31st total of 629,500 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 249,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days. Currently, 2.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Booking from $3,497.00 to $3,976.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $3,590.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Benchmark dropped their price target on Booking from $4,700.00 to $4,600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Booking from $4,500.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on Booking from $4,150.00 to $4,100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4,064.21.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ BKNG traded down $61.01 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $4,187.09. The company had a trading volume of 49,935 shares, compared to its average volume of 253,119. Booking has a fifty-two week low of $2,733.04 and a fifty-two week high of $4,272.88. The company has a market capitalization of $142.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $3,789.54 and its 200 day moving average is $3,753.95.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $39.22 by $2.68. Booking had a net margin of 22.46% and a negative return on equity of 200.87%. The firm had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $37.62 earnings per share. Booking’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Booking will post 176.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total transaction of $3,050,737.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total transaction of $3,050,737.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 24,721 shares in the company, 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. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total value of $388,761.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd boosted its holdings in Booking by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd now owns 863 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,061,000 after buying an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in Booking by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 624 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,264,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the period. Aspiriant LLC boosted its stake in Booking by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 65 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $236,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the period. Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Booking by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 178 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $647,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in Booking by 14.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 24 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

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.