Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Sold by Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd trimmed its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 70.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 442 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,036 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd's holdings in Booking were worth $2,036,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new position in Booking in the first quarter worth $41,000. Finally, North Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Booking in the first quarter worth $46,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 26,633 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $151,674,935. This trade represents a 3.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,039 shares of company stock valued at $16,963,769. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BKNG. BTIG Research raised Booking from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $5,500.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $5,700.00 target price (up previously from $5,600.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Booking from $5,360.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Booking from $5,960.00 to $5,557.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. 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, Booking has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $5,454.26.

Booking Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Booking stock traded down $17.30 on Friday, reaching $5,632.70. 96,261 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 253,103. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $3,180.00 and a 1-year high of $5,839.41. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $5,540.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5,042.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.29 billion, a PE ratio of 35.06, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $24.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $17.57 by $7.24. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion for 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 revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $20.39 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

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.