Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Purchased by IFM Investors Pty Ltd

IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 9.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,487 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 663 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd's holdings in Booking were worth $31,536,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Booking by 521,609.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,363,345 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $10,887,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,362,892 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Booking by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 803,125 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,986,244,000 after purchasing an additional 6,009 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $1,958,352,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Booking by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 368,628 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,831,499,000 after purchasing an additional 58,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in Booking by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 285,064 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,416,318,000 after acquiring an additional 3,926 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKNG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $5,900.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $4,800.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,600.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of 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, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,580.00 to $5,820.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $5,388.37.

Booking Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:BKNG traded up $20.73 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $5,722.49. The stock had a trading volume of 131,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 248,532. The stock has a market capitalization of $186.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $5,379.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4,974.80. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $3,180.00 and a 52 week high of $5,799.01.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $24.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $17.57 by $7.24. The firm had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.58 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.58% and a negative return on equity of 143.67%. Booking's quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $20.39 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Booking's payout ratio is 23.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 27,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $148,073,911.22. This trade represents a 3.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

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.