Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Sold by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 50.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 405 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 411 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $2,187,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 150.0% in 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. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 4 shares during the period. Davis Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Booking during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in shares of Booking in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Argus boosted their target price on Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price objective on Booking from $6,250.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $6,150.00 price objective on Booking in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Booking from $5,640.00 to $6,050.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Gordon Haskett boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,620.00 to $5,710.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6,225.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 953 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,181.34, for a total value of $4,937,817.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 19,615 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,631,984.10. This represents a 4.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,191.15, for a total transaction of $77,867.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,566,320.05. This represents a 2.14% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 3,324 shares of company stock worth $17,190,323 in the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Booking Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of Booking stock opened at $5,115.91 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $5,189.20 and its 200-day moving average is $5,352.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.89 billion, a PE ratio of 33.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $4,096.23 and a 12-month high of $5,839.41.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. The business had revenue of $9.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.Booking’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $83.39 EPS. Analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.96%.

About Booking

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.