American Trust Acquires Shares of 179 Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

American Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 179 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $475,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 37.2% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 64,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $151,044,000 after purchasing an additional 17,432 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 18.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 613 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,440,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the 1st quarter worth about $387,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,585 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,767,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $404,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. 92.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,000.00 to $3,600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 7th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,430.00 to $3,855.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 17th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,130.00 to $3,740.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. TheStreet raised shares of Booking from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3,137.29.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $3,197.56 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $1,616.85 and a one year high of $3,251.71. The company has a 50-day moving average of $3,025.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2,757.24. The stock has a market cap of $114.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.62, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.16, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.55.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $37.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $28.84 by $8.78. The business had revenue of $5.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.17 billion. Booking had a net margin of 23.04% and a return on equity of 285.21%. The firm’s revenue was up 27.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $19.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 144.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, CAO Susana D’emic sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,203.49, for a total value of $3,844,188.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,111,510.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 30 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,026.39, for a total transaction of $90,791.70. Following the transaction, the director now owns 614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,858,203.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Susana D’emic sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,203.49, for a total transaction of $3,844,188.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,111,510.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 3,012 shares of company stock valued at $9,214,984 over the last three months. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.