Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. Sells 49 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. decreased its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 0.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,740 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 49 shares during the quarter. Booking accounts for approximately 1.7% of Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in Booking were worth $35,658,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Booking by 521,609.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,363,345 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $10,887,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,362,892 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,958,352,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Booking by 51.4% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 280,629 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,394,283,000 after buying an additional 95,308 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Booking by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 368,628 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,831,499,000 after buying an additional 58,357 shares during the period. Finally, Winslow Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 132.7% during the fourth quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 88,754 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $440,967,000 after acquiring an additional 50,605 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were 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 directly owned 26,633 shares in the company, valued at $151,674,935. This represents a 3.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,039 shares of company stock worth $16,963,769. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on BKNG shares. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Booking from $5,120.00 to $5,077.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $4,800.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Booking from $5,360.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $4,720.00 to $5,630.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Booking from $5,550.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $5,454.26.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG traded down $86.32 on Thursday, hitting $5,650.00. 172,462 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 174,840. The stock's fifty day moving average is $5,531.93 and its 200-day moving average is $5,037.81. The company has a market cap of $183.85 billion, a PE ratio of 35.15, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $3,180.00 and a 12 month high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $24.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $17.57 by $7.24. Booking had a negative return on equity of 143.67% and a net margin of 22.58%. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $20.39 earnings per share. Booking's quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th were given a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. Booking's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.89%.

About Booking

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.