Handelsbanken Fonder AB Sells 6,228 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lessened its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 20.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,854 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 6,228 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned about 0.08% of Booking worth $114,500,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $10,887,718,000 after buying an additional 2,362,892 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 621,874.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,295,423,000 after buying an additional 864,406 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 803,125 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,986,244,000 after buying an additional 6,009 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth about $1,958,352,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 368,628 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,831,499,000 after buying an additional 58,357 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG traded down $21.70 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $5,466.28. The stock had a trading volume of 262,776 shares, compared to its average volume of 247,116. The firm's fifty day moving average is $5,028.05 and its 200 day moving average is $4,937.42. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $3,180.00 and a 52 week high of $5,639.70. The stock has a market cap of $177.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $24.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $17.57 by $7.24. Booking had a net margin of 24.78% and a negative return on equity of 159.34%. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $20.39 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Booking's payout ratio is presently 23.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Benchmark raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $5,900.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Booking from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. B. Riley raised their price target on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Booking from $5,580.00 to $5,820.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Cfra raised shares of Booking from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $5,388.37.

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.