Gabelli Funds LLC Buys 500 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Gabelli Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 15.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,684 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $13,365,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new position in shares of Booking in the first quarter valued at about $519,000. Envoi LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the first quarter valued at about $356,000. Guardian Capital LP raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 3.0% in the first quarter. Guardian Capital LP now owns 3,187 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,562,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.8% in the first quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 403 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,461,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 23.8% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 520 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,886,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total value of $3,050,737.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total transaction of $3,050,737.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,437.25, for a total value of $75,619.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $649,640.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 999 shares of company stock valued at $3,939,187. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Booking from $3,700.00 to $4,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com raised Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Booking from $3,494.00 to $3,497.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Erste Group Bank raised Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $3,950.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Monday, May 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $4,056.31.

Booking Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG traded up $41.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $3,700.99. The company had a trading volume of 233,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 203,060. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.38. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $2,733.04 and a 1-year high of $4,144.32. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $3,887.65 and its 200-day moving average is $3,686.47.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $14.03 by $6.36. The company had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.25 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 288.35% and a net margin of 21.81%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $11.60 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 178.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a $8.75 dividend. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 26.25%.

Booking Company 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.