Glenn D. Fogel Sells 750 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Stock

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,534.10, for a total transaction of $2,650,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 26,971 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,318,211.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Booking Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG traded down $20.19 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $3,447.58. 100,804 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 274,596. The stock has a market capitalization of $117.80 billion, a PE ratio of 29.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.40. The business’s 50 day moving average is $3,591.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3,363.69. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $2,456.93 and a one year high of $3,918.00.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $32.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $29.72 by $2.28. The company had revenue of $4.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. Booking had a net margin of 20.08% and a negative return on equity of 751.49%. Booking’s revenue was up 18.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $24.74 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 175.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $8.75 dividend. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Booking

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the first quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Kathmere Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 13.8% during the first quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.0% during the first quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,015 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,620,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Capital Insight Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.6% during the first quarter. Capital Insight Partners LLC now owns 1,805 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,548,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the first quarter valued at approximately $87,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BKNG shares. Ascendiant Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $3,700.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $3,550.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Edward Jones reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, February 16th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $3,855.00 to $4,285.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,560.00 to $3,950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,723.41.

About Booking

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.