Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) VP Peter Millones Sells 62,500 Shares of Stock

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) VP Peter Millones sold 62,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total value of $10,229,375.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 425,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,572,025.25. The trade was a 12.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Booking Trading Up 3.1%

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $168.37 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $170.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $186.78. The company has a market cap of $130.47 billion, a PE ratio of 22.15, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.10. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $150.14 and a 1 year high of $233.58.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $5.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.52 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 117.14% and a net margin of 22.23%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.99 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Booking

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Booking by 7.7% in the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,914 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,132,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the last quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Booking by 59.6% in the third quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 1,119 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,042,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC grew its position in shares of Booking by 124.1% in the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 354 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,911,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG grew its position in shares of Booking by 4.3% in the third quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 15,525 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $83,822,000 after purchasing an additional 633 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Booking by 7.2% in the third quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 22,669 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $122,396,000 after acquiring an additional 1,514 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on BKNG. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Booking from $234.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Gordon Haskett raised their price objective on Booking from $217.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Benchmark decreased their price objective on Booking from $256.00 to $224.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Booking from $226.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.14.

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.