Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) VP Sells $10,229,375.00 in Stock

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) VP Peter Millones sold 62,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total value of $10,229,375.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 425,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,572,025.25. This trade represents a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Booking Trading Up 3.1%

NASDAQ:BKNG traded up $5.07 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $168.37. 9,235,986 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,132,051. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $150.14 and a 52-week high of $233.58. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $170.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $187.01. The company has a market cap of $130.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.10.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.06. Booking had a negative return on equity of 117.14% and a net margin of 22.23%.The company had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. Booking’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Booking’s payout ratio is 22.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on BKNG. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Booking from $234.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Booking from $260.00 to $237.40 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Booking from $259.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $175.00 price objective (down from $180.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Booking from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.14.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Booking

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its position in shares of Booking by 191,965.8% in the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,832,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,171,489,000 after purchasing an additional 2,831,495 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in shares of Booking by 1,497.3% in the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 870,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,665,168,000 after purchasing an additional 816,022 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,271,041,000. HF Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Booking by 28,353.8% in the fourth quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 204,298 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,094,083,000 after purchasing an additional 203,580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its position in shares of Booking by 862.0% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 218,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,167,890,000 after purchasing an additional 195,411 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.