Benjamin Edwards Inc. Sells 374 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Key Points

• Benjamin Edwards Inc. reduced its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. by 75.9%, selling 374 shares and retaining only 119 shares valued at $548,000.
• Booking Holdings reported a quarterly EPS of $55.40, surpassing estimates and marking a 16.0% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• The firm declared a $9.60 quarterly dividend, indicating a 0.7% yield and a payout ratio of 26.71%.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. trimmed its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 75.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 119 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 374 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Booking were worth $548,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $10,887,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,362,892 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 1,411.9% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 112,201 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $516,900,000 after purchasing an additional 104,780 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 182.2% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 104,643 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $482,081,000 after purchasing an additional 67,562 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 368,628 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,831,499,000 after purchasing an additional 58,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 127.3% in the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 81,785 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $406,342,000 after purchasing an additional 45,808 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Booking Trading Up 0.7%

BKNG stock opened at $5,484.77 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $177.76 billion, a PE ratio of 38.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.41. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $3,592.28 and a 12-month high of $5,839.41. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $5,562.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5,115.58.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $50.32 by $5.08. The business had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.54 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.19% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $41.90 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Booking's dividend payout ratio is 26.71%.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,695.00, for a total value of $5,769,035.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,633 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $151,674,935. This represents a 3.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 3,039 shares of company stock valued at $16,963,769. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BKNG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and set a $6,200.00 target price (up previously from $6,000.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $5,650.00 target price on Booking and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on 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, Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating and set a $5,750.00 target price (up previously from $5,077.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, July 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $5,781.04.

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.

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