Howard Capital Management Inc. Sells 126 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Key Points

• Howard Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Booking Holdings by 12.5%, selling 126 shares and holding a total of 881 shares valued at approximately $4.06 million.
• Booking Holdings reported earnings of $55.40 per share, exceeding analyst expectations and marking a 16% year-over-year revenue growth to $6.80 billion.
• CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares recently, reducing his ownership by 3.66%, while corporate insiders have sold a total of 3,039 shares worth around $17 million in the last 90 days.

Howard Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 12.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 881 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 126 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Booking were worth $4,059,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Booking by 521,609.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,362,892 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 803,125 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,986,244,000 after purchasing an additional 6,009 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Booking by 18.8% during the fourth 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 period. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 285,064 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,416,318,000 after buying an additional 3,926 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 278,063 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,381,534,000 after buying an additional 4,401 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG traded down $117.77 during trading on Friday, hitting $5,386.29. 199,536 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 184,546. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $5,568.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $5,074.51. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $3,180.00 and a twelve month high of $5,839.41. The company has a market cap of $174.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.46, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $50.32 by $5.08. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.19% and a net margin of 19.23%. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $41.90 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Booking

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,695.00, for a total transaction of $5,769,035.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,633 shares in the company, valued at $151,674,935. This represents a 3.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 3,039 shares of company stock valued at $16,963,769 over the last three months. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Booking from $5,560.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,550.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,600.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Booking from $5,360.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $5,650.00 price target on shares of Booking and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $5,781.04.

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.