Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Sold by Gateway Investment Advisers LLC

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,297 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,010 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $44,798,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Booking by 400.0% during the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 4 shares during the period. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 3 shares during the period. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank raised its stake in shares of Booking by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG stock opened at $5,323.20 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $5,127.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $5,370.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.60, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.23. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $4,096.23 and a fifty-two week high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $95.56 by $3.94. Booking had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 134.86%. The company had revenue of $9.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $83.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th were paid a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush raised shares of Booking from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $6,000.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Booking from $6,450.00 to $6,630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $5,433.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Thursday, October 30th. B. Riley increased their target price on Booking from $6,700.00 to $6,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Benchmark lifted their target price on Booking from $6,200.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6,149.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,800,000. This represents a 4.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,414.53, for a total value of $3,091,696.63. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 21,010 shares in the company, valued at $113,759,275.30. This trade represents a 2.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 3,324 shares of company stock valued at $17,193,557 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.