Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Sold by Jacobs & Co. CA

Jacobs & Co. CA reduced its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,452 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 37 shares during the period. Jacobs & Co. CA’s holdings in Booking were worth $5,150,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,068,137,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Booking by 3,557.5% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 142,166 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $333,870,000 after buying an additional 138,279 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Booking by 61.6% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 295,891 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $596,303,000 after buying an additional 112,831 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Booking by 2,479.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 116,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $414,234,000 after buying an additional 112,249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $222,919,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,493.71, for a total transaction of $2,620,282.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $121,888,554.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,493.71, for a total transaction of $2,620,282.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 34,888 shares in the company, valued at $121,888,554.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total transaction of $14,724,670.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 33,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,826,417. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,467 shares of company stock valued at $22,299,114 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BKNG. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Booking from $3,080.00 to $3,610.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Edward Jones reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Booking from $3,900.00 to $3,800.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,697.38.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $3,673.50 on Thursday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,456.93 and a fifty-two week high of $3,918.00. The company has a market capitalization of $125.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $3,580.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3,314.29.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $32.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $29.72 by $2.28. The business had revenue of $4.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. Booking had a net margin of 20.08% and a negative return on equity of 751.49%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $24.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 175.46 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th will be paid a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.67%.

Booking 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.