Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Bought by Bailard Inc.

Bailard Inc. raised its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 336 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 858 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,044,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Wynn Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $560,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $89,000. Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 5,513 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $19,556,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, Cumberland Partners Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 89.3% during the fourth quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 265 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $933,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Ascendiant Capital Markets increased 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Booking from $3,548.00 to $3,435.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Tigress Financial increased 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, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Seven 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,723.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total transaction of $218,300.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,069,300. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total value of $218,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,069,300. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,485.00, for a total transaction of $1,045,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,752,005. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,461 shares of company stock valued at $18,815,825 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of BKNG traded up $24.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $3,526.73. The company had a trading volume of 38,977 shares, compared to its average volume of 264,962. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $3,551.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3,380.07. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,456.93 and a fifty-two week high of $3,918.00. The stock has a market cap of $119.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $32.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $29.72 by $2.28. Booking had a net margin of 20.08% and a negative return on equity of 751.49%. The business had revenue of $4.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $24.74 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 175.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $8.75 dividend. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.67%.

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.