Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Cuts Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. decreased its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 99.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 83 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 40,517 shares during the quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in Booking were worth $450,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Booking by 400.0% in the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 4 shares in the last quarter. Davis Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Booking by 100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new position in Booking during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In related news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 960 shares in the company, valued at $4,800,000. This trade represents a 4.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,570,000. This represents a 11.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,324 shares of company stock worth $17,190,323. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $5,098.50 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $164.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $4,096.23 and a 1-year high of $5,839.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $5,191.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5,337.30.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. Booking had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 134.86%. The business had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $83.39 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BKNG. Mizuho set a $6,000.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,433.00 to $5,407.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $6,250.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on Booking from $6,500.00 to $6,600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6,209.94.

About Booking

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.