Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Stock Holdings Lessened by Boothbay Fund Management LLC

Boothbay Fund Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 44.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,211 shares during the period. Boothbay Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $8,661,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BKNG. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 854,838 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,936,132,000 after purchasing an additional 9,333 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Booking during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,210,917,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Booking by 6.8% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 379,583 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,197,495,000 after buying an additional 24,030 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in shares of Booking by 4.9% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 377,198 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,183,690,000 after acquiring an additional 17,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.5% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 370,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,706,063,000 after acquiring an additional 1,699 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 443 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4,820.35, for a total transaction of $2,135,415.05. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 22,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $106,775,572.85. This represents a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,800,000. This trade represents a 4.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,388 shares of company stock valued at $17,629,822. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of Booking stock opened at $5,301.64 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $170.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $5,061.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5,379.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $4,096.23 and a 52-week high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $95.56 by $3.94. The firm had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. Booking had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 134.86%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $83.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 24.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on Booking from $5,590.00 to $5,550.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Booking from $6,500.00 to $6,600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Truist Financial set a $5,810.00 price objective on Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, UBS Group set a $6,806.00 target price on Booking and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6,149.23.

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.