Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Sold by Capital World Investors

Capital World Investors cut its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 19.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 641,723 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 150,307 shares during the quarter. Capital World Investors’ holdings in Booking were worth $3,436,638,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Daytona Street Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Camelot Portfolios LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the third quarter valued at $27,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Booking from $234.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Booking from $250.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Booking from $216.28 to $187.92 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective (up from $244.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, HSBC dropped their price objective on Booking from $309.84 to $298.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $227.14.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG opened at $165.84 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $150.14 and a 12 month high of $233.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $128.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.81, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $169.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $185.09.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.06. Booking had a negative return on equity of 117.14% and a net margin of 22.23%.The firm had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. Booking’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 16,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,081,600. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total value of $3,100,331.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,269,532.64. This trade represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 97,076 shares of company stock valued at $16,417,121 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Booking Profile

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.