Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Declares $8.75 Quarterly Dividend

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 7th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of 8.75 per share by the business services provider on Friday, June 28th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th.

Booking has a dividend payout ratio of 17.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Booking to earn $210.22 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $35.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.6%.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG traded up $7.00 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $3,605.41. The stock had a trading volume of 259,690 shares, compared to its average volume of 269,370. The firm has a market cap of $122.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.40. The business’s fifty day moving average is $3,526.40 and its 200 day moving average is $3,412.40. Booking has a 52-week low of $2,456.93 and a 52-week high of $3,918.00.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $14.03 by $6.36. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.25 billion. Booking had a net margin of 21.81% and a negative return on equity of 288.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $11.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Booking will post 176.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,437.25, for a total value of $75,619.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $649,640.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Booking news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,437.25, for a total value of $75,619.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $649,640.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,485.00, for a total value of $1,045,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,233 shares in the company, valued at $14,752,005. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,483 shares of company stock worth $18,891,445 in the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $4,205.00 price objective (up previously from $4,150.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Friday. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,950.00 to $4,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Booking from $3,600.00 to $4,100.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3,844.48.

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.