Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Sold by LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.0% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 58 shares during the period. Booking makes up approximately 1.2% of LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Booking were worth $12,941,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BKNG. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Booking by 521,609.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,363,345 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,887,718,000 after buying an additional 2,362,892 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Booking by 1,411.9% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 112,201 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $516,900,000 after buying an additional 104,780 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Booking by 182.2% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 104,643 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $482,081,000 after buying an additional 67,562 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Booking by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 368,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,831,499,000 after buying an additional 58,357 shares during the period. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Booking by 127.3% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 81,785 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $406,342,000 after buying an additional 45,808 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,695.00, for a total transaction of $5,769,035.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,633 shares in the company, valued at $151,674,935. This trade represents a 3.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 3,039 shares of company stock worth $16,963,769 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on BKNG. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,700.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,600.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,550.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5,781.04.

Booking Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $5,364.25 on Tuesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $3,399.27 and a 52-week high of $5,839.41. The company has a 50 day moving average of $5,566.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5,105.18. The company has a market capitalization of $173.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $50.32 by $5.08. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.54 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.19% and a net margin of 19.23%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $41.90 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.71%.

Booking Company Profile

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.