Provident Investment Management Inc. Has $60.44 Million Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Key Points

• Provident Investment Management Inc. reduced its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. by 2.5%, now owning 13,119 shares valued at approximately $60.4 million, making it the firm's 8th largest position.
• Major institutional investors like Vanguard Group and GAMMA Investing have significantly increased their positions in Booking, with Vanguard growing its stake by 1.0% and GAMMA by over 521,000% during the first quarter.
• Booking announced a quarterly dividend of $9.60, with a payout ratio of 26.71%, set to be distributed on September 30th to shareholders recorded by September 5th.

Provident Investment Management Inc. reduced its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 2.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,119 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 339 shares during the quarter. Booking accounts for about 5.7% of Provident Investment Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Provident Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Booking were worth $60,439,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKNG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $6,700.00 price objective (up from $6,100.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Booking to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $5,900.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $5,781.04.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,695.00, for a total value of $5,769,035.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 26,633 shares in the company, valued at approximately $151,674,935. The trade was a 3.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,039 shares of company stock worth $16,963,769. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG stock traded down $26.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $5,405.91. The company had a trading volume of 186,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 199,192. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $5,569.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $5,095.71. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $3,394.85 and a 52-week high of $5,839.41. The company has a market capitalization of $175.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $50.32 by $5.08. Booking had a net margin of 19.23% and a negative return on equity of 134.19%. The business had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $41.90 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Booking's dividend payout ratio is 26.71%.

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.