Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Insider Paulo Pisano Sells 1,500 Shares of Company Stock

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) insider Paulo Pisano sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.06, for a total transaction of $244,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 70,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,479,424. This represents a 2.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Paulo Pisano also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, September 15th, Paulo Pisano sold 1,500 shares of Booking stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.02, for a total value of $259,530.00.
• On Monday, August 31st, Paulo Pisano sold 3,000 shares of Booking stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.48, for a total value of $610,440.00.

Booking Stock Performance

NASDAQ BKNG traded down $2.35 on Friday, reaching $163.45. The stock had a trading volume of 6,370,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,414,531. The stock has a market cap of $122.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.13. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $150.14 and a 12-month high of $220.81. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $182.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $177.50.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.19 billion. Booking had a net margin of 25.53% and a negative return on equity of 102.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $55.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on BKNG shares. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $210.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Booking from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $188.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. B. Riley Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $274.00 price target (up from $264.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $234.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $233.95.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Booking

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,646,302,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Booking by 2,674.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 39,420,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,026,348,000 after purchasing an additional 37,999,915 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Booking during the second quarter worth $1,691,186,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Booking during the second quarter worth $1,370,455,000. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its position in Booking by 1.0% during the third quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 6,489,929 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,057,274,000 after purchasing an additional 64,584 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Booking Company Profile

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel and restaurant reservation company headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut. Through its digital platforms, the company helps consumers search for, compare and reserve accommodations, flights, rental cars, vacation packages, attractions and restaurant reservations.

Its portfolio includes Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, KAYAK, OpenTable, Rentalcars.com and the travel metasearch brands Momondo and Cheapflights. Booking.com is primarily known for lodging reservations, while Priceline focuses on travel deals, Agoda serves customers across international markets with a strong presence in Asia, KAYAK and its related brands provide travel search and comparison services, and OpenTable operates a restaurant reservation platform.

The company was founded in 1997 as Priceline.com and was later renamed The Priceline Group before adopting the Booking Holdings name in 2018.