National Pension Service Has $256.59 Million Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 72,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,889 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned 0.21% of Booking worth $256,592,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Booking by 8.8% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 15,301 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,188,000 after buying an additional 1,236 shares during the last quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 4,390 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,539,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $57,635,000 after buying an additional 470 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp bought a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $24,841,000. Finally, Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter worth approximately $879,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on BKNG shares. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $4,205.00 price target (up from $4,150.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,220.00 to $4,230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $3,600.00 to $4,100.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,876.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In related news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,583.07, for a total value of $78,827.54. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $756,027.77. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total value of $14,724,670.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 33,548 shares in the company, valued at $114,826,417. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,583.07, for a total transaction of $78,827.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 211 shares in the company, valued at $756,027.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,424 shares of company stock worth $18,673,145. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Booking Stock Up 2.2 %

NASDAQ:BKNG traded up $81.05 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $3,741.05. The company had a trading volume of 149,936 shares, compared to its average volume of 268,760. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $3,528.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $3,418.38. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $2,456.93 and a 52-week high of $3,918.00. The company has a market capitalization of $126.93 billion, a PE ratio of 28.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $14.03 by $6.36. The company had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.25 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 288.35% and a net margin of 21.81%. Booking’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $11.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $8.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.25%.

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.