Short Interest in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Expands By 8.1%

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on BKNG shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Booking from $4,200.00 to $4,300.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Booking from $4,657.00 to $4,470.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Booking from $4,100.00 to $4,700.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Booking from $5,400.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,044.43.

Institutional Trading of Booking

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in shares of Booking by 16.4% during the 4th 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 boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $3,921,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Booking by 5.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 8,735 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position 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 valued at $29,160,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Booking by 5.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $166,787,000 after purchasing an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Booking Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,084.73 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $4,917.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4,520.66. Booking has a fifty-two week low of $3,180.00 and a fifty-two week high of $5,337.24. The firm has a market cap of $168.30 billion, a PE ratio of 34.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.39.

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.