Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC Has $479,000 Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Key Points

• Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Booking Holdings by 31.1%, holding 104 shares valued at $479,000 after selling 47 shares during the first quarter.
• Booking Holdings reported $55.40 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates by $5.08, with revenue of $6.80 billion, indicating a 16.0% increase year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $9.60 per share, to be paid on September 30th, representing an annualized yield of 0.7%.

Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 31.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 104 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 47 shares during the quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Booking were worth $479,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Booking during the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. North Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Booking in the first quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Mechanics Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 1st quarter worth about $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,695.00, for a total transaction of $5,769,035.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 26,633 shares in the company, valued at $151,674,935. This represents a 3.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,039 shares of company stock worth $16,963,769. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Susquehanna increased their target price on Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and issued a $6,200.00 price objective (up previously from $6,000.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $5,900.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,411.00 to $5,418.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Booking from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $5,781.04.

Booking Price Performance

Booking stock traded down $26.19 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $5,405.91. The company had a trading volume of 186,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 199,192. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $3,394.85 and a one year high of $5,839.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $5,569.71 and a 200 day moving average of $5,095.71. The firm has a market cap of $175.21 billion, a PE ratio of 37.60, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $50.32 by $5.08. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.54 billion. Booking had a net margin of 19.23% and a negative return on equity of 134.19%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $41.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Booking's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.71%.

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.