Benjamin Edwards Inc. Purchases 561 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 463.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 682 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 561 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $3,683,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 150.0% during the third quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the period. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in Booking during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Booking by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares during the last quarter. Davis Capital Management bought a new position in Booking in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 625 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,141.53, for a total transaction of $3,213,456.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 22,982 shares in the company, valued at $118,162,642.46. This trade represents a 2.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,570,000. The trade was a 11.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 3,324 shares of company stock valued at $17,193,557 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $5,492.11 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $4,096.23 and a 1-year high of $5,839.41. The business has a 50-day moving average of $5,157.46 and a 200 day moving average of $5,373.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $177.03 billion, a PE ratio of 35.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.23.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. Booking had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 134.86%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $83.39 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price 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. Benchmark upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,200.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $6,500.00 to $6,600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Seaport Global Securities raised their price target on shares of Booking from $6,030.00 to $6,260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6,179.42.

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.