Short Interest in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Decreases By 21.7%

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 624,100 shares, a drop of 21.7% from the October 31st total of 796,800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 222,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Currently, 1.9% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Booking Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $5,201.98 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.30, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.38. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $4,599.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $4,089.44. Booking has a 12 month low of $3,079.50 and a 12 month high of $5,237.00.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Booking

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its holdings in Booking by 55.9% in the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 931 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,921,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the period. BDF Gestion bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,897,000. Cumberland Partners Ltd increased its stake in shares of Booking by 25.0% in the third quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 500 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,106,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 11.8% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,631 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,423,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 342,723.5% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 233,120 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $981,929,000 after acquiring an additional 233,052 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on BKNG. Wedbush upped their price objective on Booking from $3,900.00 to $4,750.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of 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. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Booking from $4,100.00 to $4,700.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,200.00 to $4,300.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Booking from $4,100.00 to $5,500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4,820.50.

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.