Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 50.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 295 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,593,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in Booking in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Booking by 400.0% in the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 4 shares during the period. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Booking in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank grew its stake in shares of Booking by 100.0% during the 2nd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,414.53, for a total transaction of $3,091,696.63. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 21,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $113,759,275.30. This represents a 2.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,362.00, for a total transaction of $80,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,764,124. This trade represents a 2.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders 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

BKNG has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group set a $6,806.00 target price on shares of Booking and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. B. Riley upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,700.00 to $6,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Booking from $5,640.00 to $6,050.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Booking from $6,450.00 to $6,630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $5,433.00 price target on shares of Booking in a report on Thursday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6,149.23.

Booking Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of Booking stock opened at $5,436.93 on Wednesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $4,096.23 and a twelve month high of $5,839.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.23 billion, a PE ratio of 35.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $5,065.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $5,377.45.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

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

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.