Brown Advisory Inc. Purchases 1,297 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 117,028 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,297 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. owned approximately 0.36% of Booking worth $539,136,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd boosted its position in Booking by 650.7% in the 1st quarter. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd now owns 4,429 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $19,919,000 after buying an additional 3,839 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking during the first quarter worth about $217,000. EULAV Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Booking by 3.8% during the first quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 2,752 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $12,678,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Booking by 36.1% during the first quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC now owns 83 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $384,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Booking by 16.2% during the first quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 6,818 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $31,410,000 after purchasing an additional 949 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on BKNG. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Booking from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $4,800.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Booking from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. BTIG Research raised shares of Booking from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $5,500.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,600.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $5,415.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,356.07, for a total value of $5,425,698.91. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 27,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $148,073,911.22. The trade was a 3.53% decrease in their position. The transaction 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.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG stock traded down $45.29 on Wednesday, hitting $5,668.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 185,039 shares, compared to its average volume of 248,978. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,180.00 and a fifty-two week high of $5,839.41. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $5,414.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $4,985.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $184.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.40.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 6th. Booking's payout ratio 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.