Longbow Finance SA Sells 513 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Key Points

• Longbow Finance SA reduced its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. by 17.7%, owning 2,389 shares after selling 513 during the first quarter.
• CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares for approximately $5.77 million, resulting in a 3.66% decrease in his ownership.
• Booking recently declared a $9.60 quarterly dividend, reflecting a 0.68% yield with a payout ratio of 23.89%.

Longbow Finance SA trimmed its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 17.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,389 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 513 shares during the quarter. Booking makes up approximately 1.3% of Longbow Finance SA's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Longbow Finance SA's holdings in Booking were worth $11,006,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in Booking during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new position in Booking during the first quarter worth $41,000. Finally, North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Booking during the first quarter worth $46,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKNG has been the topic of several research reports. B. Riley upped their target price on Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Booking from $5,550.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Booking from $5,000.00 to $4,800.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Booking from $5,120.00 to $5,077.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on Booking from $5,540.00 to $4,330.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $5,454.26.

Booking Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of BKNG traded down $17.73 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $5,632.27. 184,789 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 172,500. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $3,180.00 and a 1 year high of $5,839.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $5,546.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $5,049.91. The company has a market cap of $183.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $24.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $17.57 by $7.24. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.58 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.58% and a negative return on equity of 143.67%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $20.39 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. Booking's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the company's 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 3,039 shares of company stock valued at $16,963,769 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Booking Company 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.