Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Bought by Advisor Resource Council

Advisor Resource Council lifted its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 382.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 357 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 283 shares during the quarter. Advisor Resource Council’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BKNG. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 37.2% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 64,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $151,044,000 after buying an additional 17,432 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Booking by 18.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 613 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,440,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Booking in the first quarter valued at about $387,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Booking by 2.0% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,585 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,767,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Booking by 7.5% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKNG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,550.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Ascendiant Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,700.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,000.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $3,855.00 to $4,285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $3,450.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,697.38.

Booking Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG traded down $23.08 during trading on Friday, hitting $3,624.73. 205,420 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 291,758. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $2,456.93 and a 1 year high of $3,918.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $3,572.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $3,301.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $32.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $29.72 by $2.28. Booking had a net margin of 20.08% and a negative return on equity of 751.49%. The company had revenue of $4.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $24.74 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 175.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th will be paid a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.67%.

Insider Activity at Booking

In related news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total transaction of $218,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,069,300. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 4,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,752,005. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total transaction of $218,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,069,300. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 6,467 shares of company stock worth $22,299,114. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Profile

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.