Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Director Sells 375 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Booking director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 375 shares at an average price of $211, generating $79,125. The transaction was made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and reduced her direct holdings by 2.27% to 16,133 shares.
• Booking reported quarterly revenue of $7.35 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $2.54, both exceeding analyst expectations; revenue increased 8.1% year over year.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with an average price target of $235.72, while Booking declared a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, yielding approximately 0.8%.

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 375 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.00, for a total transaction of $79,125.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 16,133 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,404,063. This trade represents a 2.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Vanessa Ames Wittman also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, July 28th, Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of Booking stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG stock traded up $3.44 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $208.20. The stock had a trading volume of 4,535,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,403,101. The firm has a market capitalization of $156.44 billion, a PE ratio of 23.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $184.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.85. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $150.14 and a twelve month high of $231.80.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.11. Booking had a net margin of 25.53% and a negative return on equity of 102.96%. The firm had revenue of $7.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $55.40 EPS. Booking's revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Booking's payout ratio is 18.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 251 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,249,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter valued at about $209,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Booking by 25.0% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $955,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its holdings in Booking by 50.0% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 87 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $504,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Booking in the second quarter worth about $179,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 price objective (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $215.00 target price (up from $195.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $236.00 price target (up from $225.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Booking from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Booking from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.72.

Booking Company 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.

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