Brown Advisory Inc. Decreases Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Brown Advisory Inc. reduced its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 15.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,404 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 18,624 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $569,684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the first quarter worth $28,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 100.0% in the second quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Booking

In other news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of the company’s 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 value of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,570,000. This represents a 11.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 400 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,007.69, for a total transaction of $2,003,076.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 21,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $108,922,265.19. This trade represents a 1.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 3,452 shares of company stock valued at $17,987,397 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,640.00 to $6,050.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on Booking from $5,590.00 to $5,550.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Booking from $6,723.00 to $6,790.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. DA Davidson upped their target price on Booking from $6,500.00 to $6,600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $5,810.00 target price on Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6,141.52.

Booking Stock Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $5,027.20 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $4,096.23 and a 52 week high of $5,839.41. The company has a market capitalization of $162.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $5,084.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5,383.29.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. The business had revenue of $9.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The company’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $83.39 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.96%.

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.