National Pension Service Sells 8,168 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Key Points

• National Pension Service reduced its Booking Holdings stake by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 8,168 shares and ending with 75,976 shares valued at about $406.9 million.
• Booking reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $1.14 versus the $1.08 consensus and revenue of $5.53 billion, up 16.2% from a year ago.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with Booking holding a Moderate Buy consensus and a target price of $227.14, while the company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share.

National Pension Service cut its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 75,976 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 8,168 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned about 0.24% of Booking worth $406,877,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,914 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $38,132,000 after buying an additional 492 shares in the last quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 59.6% during the 3rd quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 1,119 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,042,000 after buying an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 124.1% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 354 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,911,000 after buying an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 22,669 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $122,396,000 after buying an additional 1,514 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth $361,463,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,081,600. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total value of $10,229,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 425,075 shares in the company, valued at $69,572,025.25. This trade represents a 12.82% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 97,076 shares of company stock worth $16,417,121 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BKNG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Booking from $226.00 to $223.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Booking from $260.00 to $237.40 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Evercore set a $245.00 price target on Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Wedbush lowered their price target on Booking from $240.00 to $220.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $227.14.

Booking Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $169.82 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $131.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.10. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $150.14 and a twelve month high of $233.58. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $170.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $186.57.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be given 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 yield of 1.0%. Booking's payout ratio is currently 22.11%.

Booking Company 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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