Booking Holdings Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $9.60 (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, October 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of 9.60 per share by the business services provider on Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th.

Booking has a dividend payout ratio of 15.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Booking to earn $243.28 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $38.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.8%.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG traded down $46.29 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $5,088.79. 48,340 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 248,838. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $5,104.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5,388.17. Booking has a 12 month low of $4,096.23 and a 12 month high of $5,839.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.01 billion, a PE ratio of 33.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.25.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its 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 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $83.39 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Booking will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 443 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,820.35, for a total value of $2,135,415.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 22,151 shares in the company, valued at $106,775,572.85. This represents a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,800,000. This represents a 4.00% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 3,452 shares of company stock worth $17,987,397 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in Booking during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Booking by 400.0% during the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 4 shares during the period. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Guerra Advisors Inc acquired a new position in Booking during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp acquired a new position in Booking during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

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.