Brown Advisory Inc. Increases Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Key Points

• Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Booking Holdings by 10.5% in the fourth quarter, adding 10,096 shares to bring its total to 105,854 shares worth about $566.9 million.
• Booking saw mixed insider activity, with CEO Glenn D. Fogel and Director Vanessa Ames Wittman both selling shares under pre-arranged trading plans; insiders sold 97,076 shares in the last quarter overall.
• The company reported better-than-expected Q1 results, posting EPS of $1.14 on revenue of $5.53 billion, while analysts maintain a Moderate Buy rating with an average price target of $227.14.

Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 10.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 105,854 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,096 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. owned 0.33% of Booking worth $566,884,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Monetary Management Group Inc. raised its position in Booking by 1.1% in the third quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. now owns 188 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,015,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the period. Elgethun Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Booking by 2.1% in the third quarter. Elgethun Capital Management now owns 97 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $517,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank grew its stake in shares of Booking by 3.4% in the third quarter. First Western Trust Bank now owns 60 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. CGN Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Booking by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. CGN Advisors LLC now owns 57 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $305,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Howard Financial Services LTD. grew its stake in shares of Booking by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 140 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $750,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total transaction of $3,100,331.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 298,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,269,532.64. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 16,050 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,081,600. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 97,076 shares of company stock worth $16,417,121. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on BKNG shares. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Booking from $244.00 to $220.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 price target (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Booking from $250.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $259.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Booking has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $227.14.

Booking Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $164.94 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $169.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.11. The company has a market cap of $127.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.70, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.08. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $150.14 and a 12 month high of $233.58.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.52 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 117.14%. The company's revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Booking's payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

Booking Profile

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel company that operates a portfolio of consumer brands and technology platforms that facilitate the search for and booking of travel services. The company's businesses focus on accommodations, transportation and related travel services through consumer-facing websites and apps as well as partner distribution channels. Booking Holdings was originally founded as Priceline in the late 1990s and adopted the Booking Holdings name in 2018; it is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Its core offerings include online reservations for hotels, vacation rentals and other lodging; flight and car rental search and booking; and ancillary services that support travel planning and on-property experiences.

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