Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Purchased by Ethic Inc.

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. increased its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. by 3.5%, now owning 4,918 shares worth approximately $23 million.
• Booking posted a quarterly earnings per share of $55.40, exceeding estimates by $5.08, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 16%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $9.60 per share, translating to an annualized yield of 0.7%.

Ethic Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 3.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,918 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Booking were worth $23,042,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Booking during the 1st quarter worth approximately $41,000. North Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Booking during the 1st quarter worth approximately $46,000. Mechanics Financial Corp purchased a new stake in Booking during the 1st quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,900.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and set a $6,000.00 price objective (up from $5,700.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Booking to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and set a $6,200.00 price objective (up from $6,000.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $5,781.04.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,476.89, for a total transaction of $5,548,089.57. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 24,620 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $134,841,031.80. This represents a 3.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 4,052 shares of company stock worth $22,511,858 over the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Stock Up 1.4%

BKNG stock traded up $77.71 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $5,532.00. 169,333 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 205,706. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.47, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $5,558.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5,126.10. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $3,610.44 and a 12-month high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $50.32 by $5.08. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. Booking had a net margin of 19.23% and a negative return on equity of 134.19%. Booking's revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $41.90 earnings per share. Research analysts predict 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 will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given 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 currently 26.71%.

Booking 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.