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

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) saw a large increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 796,800 shares, an increase of 12.1% from the October 15th total of 710,500 shares. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 216,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.7 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total transaction of $388,761.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,722,379.07. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Booking

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Booking by 12.2% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 654 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,807,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 797,116 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,350,605,000 after acquiring an additional 11,211 shares in the last quarter. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc raised its position in shares of Booking by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc now owns 2,939 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,379,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Conway Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Booking during the third quarter worth approximately $577,000. Finally, Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 1.2% in the third quarter. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC now owns 917 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,863,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BKNG. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $3,560.00 to $4,900.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JMP Securities boosted their target price on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,400.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Booking from $4,200.00 to $4,300.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Booking from $4,900.00 to $5,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Booking from $4,100.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $4,749.83.

Booking Stock Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ BKNG traded up $44.79 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $5,019.98. 73,463 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 247,387. The firm has a market cap of $166.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.76, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a 50 day moving average of $4,360.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3,991.30. Booking has a 52-week low of $3,079.50 and a 52-week high of $5,069.44.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $8.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Booking’s dividend 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.