CWA Asset Management Group LLC Sells 441 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC cut its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 58.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 310 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 441 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC's holdings in Booking were worth $1,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 2,362,892 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Booking by 621,874.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,295,423,000 after purchasing an additional 864,406 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,958,352,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Booking by 51.4% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 280,629 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,394,283,000 after buying an additional 95,308 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Booking by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 368,628 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,831,499,000 after buying an additional 58,357 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,356.07, for a total transaction of $5,425,698.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 27,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $148,073,911.22. This trade represents a 3.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Benchmark upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Booking from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $5,500.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. B. Riley upped their price target on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Booking from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $5,900.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $5,388.37.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG stock traded up $17.77 during trading on Friday, reaching $5,304.03. The company had a trading volume of 441,919 shares, compared to its average volume of 248,618. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $3,180.00 and a 52 week high of $5,639.70. The company has a market cap of $172.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.00, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a 50 day moving average of $5,180.10 and a 200 day moving average of $4,947.25.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Booking's dividend payout ratio is 23.89%.

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.