Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Short Interest Up 8.1% in January

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during 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 shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 238,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Booking

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of BKNG. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the third quarter valued at about $202,000. Good Life Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Booking by 9.0% during the third quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. LexAurum Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the third quarter valued at about $211,000. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Booking by 15.8% in the third quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 169 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $712,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Booking in the third quarter worth about $203,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKNG has been the subject of several research reports. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and set a $4,600.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Argus downgraded Booking from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Booking from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, November 9th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Booking from $3,560.00 to $4,900.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $5,044.43.

Booking Trading Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ:BKNG traded down $92.37 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $5,018.23. The company had a trading volume of 299,713 shares, compared to its average volume of 258,695. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $4,908.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4,540.81. Booking has a 1 year low of $3,180.00 and a 1 year high of $5,337.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.05, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.39.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The business services provider reported $41.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $35.82 by $5.73. Booking had a negative return on equity of 166.06% and a net margin of 21.85%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Booking will post 181.71 earnings per share for the current year.

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.