Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Stock Holdings Cut by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC cut its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,705 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,104 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Booking were worth $30,803,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Booking during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in shares of Booking during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Booking by 400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares during the last quarter. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank raised its holdings 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 worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Up 0.9%

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $5,394.36 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $5,077.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $5,375.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.06, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.25. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $4,096.23 and a 1-year high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $95.56 by $3.94. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The company had revenue of $9.01 billion for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 24.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,800,000. The trade was a 4.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,362.00, for a total value of $80,430.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,764,124. This represents a 2.09% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 3,324 shares of company stock valued at $17,193,557 over the last three months. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BKNG. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Booking from $6,450.00 to $6,630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Wedbush upgraded Booking from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $6,000.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Barclays upped their target price on Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price target on Booking from $6,200.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6,149.23.

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.