Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 715,700 shares, a growth of 8.1% from the January 15th total of 662,100 shares. Approximately 2.2% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 238,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.0 days.

Booking Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:BKNG traded up $35.70 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $5,044.40. The stock had a trading volume of 202,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 263,793. The stock has a market cap of $166.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $4,919.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4,510.94. Booking has a 12-month low of $3,180.00 and a 12-month high of $5,337.24.

Institutional Trading of Booking

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in Booking by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,321,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 55.9% in 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 buying an additional 334 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 179,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $896,455,000 after buying an additional 8,735 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Booking by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,160,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Booking by 5.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $166,787,000 after acquiring an additional 2,010 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Booking from $3,940.00 to $4,510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $4,600.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Booking from $4,100.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their target price on Booking from $4,100.00 to $4,700.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5,044.43.

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.