Eastern Bank Reduces Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Key Points

• Eastern Bank has significantly reduced its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. by 39%, holding just 72 shares valued at approximately $332,000 as of the latest SEC filing.
• Recent analysts' reports have given mixed ratings for Booking, with price targets ranging from $5,500 to $6,000, suggesting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".
• Booking Holdings declared a quarterly dividend of $9.60 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.7% and a payout ratio of 23.89%.

Eastern Bank trimmed its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 39.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 46 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank's holdings in Booking were worth $332,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Booking in the first quarter worth approximately $41,000. North Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Booking in the first quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, Mechanics Financial Corp purchased a new stake in Booking in the first quarter worth approximately $46,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on BKNG. Truist Financial upped their target price on Booking from $4,720.00 to $5,630.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,900.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,820.00 to $5,850.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,600.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned 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 an average price target of $5,781.04.

Booking Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of Booking stock traded down $117.77 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $5,386.29. 199,536 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 184,546. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $3,180.00 and a one year high of $5,839.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $5,568.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $5,076.22.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $50.32 by $5.08. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.19% and a net margin of 19.23%. The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $41.90 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Booking's dividend payout ratio is 26.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,695.00, for a total transaction of $5,769,035.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,633 shares of the company's stock, valued at $151,674,935. This represents a 3.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,039 shares of company stock worth $16,963,769. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.