Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Sold by Yousif Capital Management LLC

Yousif Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,805 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 239 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $20,545,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BKNG. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Booking by 400.0% in the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares during the period. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in Booking during the second quarter worth $29,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 100.0% during the second quarter. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the period. Finally, First PREMIER Bank grew its stake in shares of Booking by 100.0% in the second quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,362.00, for a total transaction of $80,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,764,124. This represents a 2.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,570,000. The trade was a 11.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 3,324 shares of company stock valued at $17,193,557 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of Booking stock opened at $5,406.99 on Tuesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $4,096.23 and a 52-week high of $5,839.41. The company has a market capitalization of $174.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50 day moving average of $5,080.59 and a 200 day moving average of $5,372.85.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. The company had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. Booking had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 134.86%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $83.39 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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 Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on BKNG. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Booking from $5,443.00 to $5,523.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. BNP Paribas set a $6,100.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,250.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $6,325.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Booking from $6,450.00 to $6,630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report 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 given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6,149.23.

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.