Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 99 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 253.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 138 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Booking were worth $636,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Booking by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 11,468 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $53,145,000 after acquiring an additional 529 shares in the last quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. raised its position in Booking by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 239 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. raised its position in Booking by 17.3% in the 1st quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 8,751 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $40,315,000 after purchasing an additional 1,289 shares during the last quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Booking by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Paragon Capital Management Inc. now owns 426 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,963,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy CG LLC raised its position in Booking by 18.7% in the 1st quarter. Legacy CG LLC now owns 838 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,861,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the subject of several research reports. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Booking from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Booking from $5,580.00 to $5,820.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $5,900.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,360.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, April 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $5,388.37.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,356.07, for a total value of $5,425,698.91. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 27,646 shares in the company, valued at $148,073,911.22. This represents a 3.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Stock Up 1.7%

Booking stock traded up $96.11 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $5,789.24. The company's stock had a trading volume of 287,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 248,327. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $3,180.00 and a 12 month high of $5,899.11. The company has a market capitalization of $188.38 billion, a PE ratio of 36.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.41. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $5,274.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $4,952.54.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $24.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $17.57 by $7.24. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion during 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 revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $20.39 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Booking's dividend payout ratio is 23.89%.

About Booking

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.