The Priceline Group Inc. (PCLN) Receives Hold Rating from Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company reissued their hold rating on shares of The Priceline Group Inc. (NASDAQ:PCLN) in a report released on Wednesday, August 9th. They currently have a $1,850.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock.

PCLN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Benchmark Co. reiterated a buy rating and issued a $2,050.00 target price (up from $1,900.00) on shares of The Priceline Group in a research note on Sunday, May 14th. Deutsche Bank AG raised their target price on The Priceline Group from $1,725.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Monday, May 8th. Raymond James Financial, Inc. reissued an outperform rating and set a $2,070.00 price target (up from $1,915.00) on shares of The Priceline Group in a report on Monday, May 8th. Macquarie set a $1,970.00 price target on The Priceline Group and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 18th. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (The) raised their price target on The Priceline Group from $1,750.00 to $1,850.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, May 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. The Priceline Group presently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of $1,924.32.

Shares of The Priceline Group (NASDAQ PCLN) traded down 0.16% during trading on Wednesday, reaching $1810.00. 486,075 shares of the company’s stock traded hands. The Priceline Group has a 1-year low of $1,402.67 and a 1-year high of $2,067.99. The company has a 50 day moving average of $1,946.27 and a 200-day moving average of $1,818.99. The company has a market capitalization of $88.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.44 and a beta of 1.42.

The Priceline Group (NASDAQ:PCLN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 8th. The business services provider reported $15.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $14.25 by $0.89. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.99 billion. The Priceline Group had a return on equity of 33.10% and a net margin of 20.51%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $13.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that The Priceline Group will post $74.77 earnings per share for the current year.

ILLEGAL ACTIVITY NOTICE: This report was originally posted by [[site]] and is owned by of [[site]]. If you are accessing this report on another website, it was illegally copied and reposted in violation of United States & international copyright and trademark law. The legal version of this report can be read at [[permalink]].

In other The Priceline Group news, Director Jan L. Docter sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,875.90, for a total transaction of $4,689,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 320 shares in the company, valued at approximately $600,288. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gillian Tans sold 122 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,814.00, for a total value of $221,308.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,963,816. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,367 shares of company stock valued at $8,166,685 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PCLN. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of The Priceline Group during the second quarter valued at about $101,000. Shine Investment Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The Priceline Group during the second quarter valued at about $105,000. Hartford Financial Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The Priceline Group during the first quarter valued at about $106,000. Webster Bank N. A. raised its stake in shares of The Priceline Group by 24.0% in the first quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 62 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of The Priceline Group by 12.5% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 63 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $112,000 after buying an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.22% of the company’s stock.

The Priceline Group Company Profile

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.