New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $159.39 Million Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 29,521 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 840 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Booking were worth $159,392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of BKNG. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 511 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,958,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in Booking by 18.6% in the second quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 75,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $437,284,000 after purchasing an additional 11,829 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Booking by 67.3% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $174,893,000 after buying an additional 12,148 shares during the period. Covey Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 1.0% during the second quarter. Covey Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,467,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in Booking by 12.7% during the second quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 2,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,262,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,030.00, for a total transaction of $75,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 717 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,510. This represents a 2.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 625 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,141.53, for a total value of $3,213,456.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 22,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $118,162,642.46. The trade was a 2.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 3,324 shares of company stock worth $17,193,557. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BKNG. Benchmark increased their price target on shares of Booking from $6,200.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group set a $6,806.00 price target on shares of Booking and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,723.00 to $6,790.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Booking from $6,450.00 to $6,630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $6,150.00 target price on Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6,179.42.

Booking Trading Up 0.9%

BKNG stock opened at $5,492.11 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $5,157.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5,373.75. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $4,096.23 and a 1 year high of $5,839.41. The stock has a market cap of $177.03 billion, a PE ratio of 35.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.23.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $95.56 by $3.94. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The company had revenue of $9.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $83.39 earnings per share. Booking’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th were given a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 5th. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 24.96%.

Booking Company Profile

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel company that operates a portfolio of consumer brands and technology platforms that facilitate the search for and booking of travel services. The company’s businesses focus on accommodations, transportation and related travel services through consumer-facing websites and apps as well as partner distribution channels. Booking Holdings was originally founded as Priceline in the late 1990s and adopted the Booking Holdings name in 2018; it is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Its core offerings include online reservations for hotels, vacation rentals and other lodging; flight and car rental search and booking; and ancillary services that support travel planning and on-property experiences.