Naviter Wealth LLC Purchases 51 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Naviter Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 24.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 256 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Naviter Wealth LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $908,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 8.8% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 15,301 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,188,000 after buying an additional 1,236 shares during the period. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 4,390 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,539,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $57,635,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth $24,841,000. Finally, Advisor Resource Council increased its holdings in Booking by 382.4% in the fourth quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 357 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,266,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total value of $14,724,670.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 33,548 shares in the company, valued at $114,826,417. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total transaction of $14,724,670.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 33,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,826,417. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,485.00, for a total value of $1,045,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 4,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,752,005. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 5,461 shares of company stock worth $18,815,825. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKNG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho raised their target price on Booking from $3,580.00 to $4,250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Booking from $3,450.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Booking from $3,548.00 to $3,435.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Booking from $3,900.00 to $3,800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3,723.41.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $3,514.80 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $3,543.07 and a 200-day moving average of $3,391.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.79, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,456.93 and a fifty-two week high of $3,918.00.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $32.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $29.72 by $2.28. The firm had revenue of $4.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 751.49% and a net margin of 20.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $24.74 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.1 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $8.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.67%.

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.