Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Sold by State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its stake in Booking Holdings by 9.1%, selling 1,121 shares to hold a total of 11,156 shares valued at approximately $51.4 million.
• Several institutional investors have increased their holdings in Booking Holdings, with GAMMA Investing LLC boosting its stake by 521,609.7%, now owning 2.36 million shares valued at nearly $10.9 billion.
• Booking Holdings reported $55.40 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing analyst estimates and showing a 16% increase in revenue year-over-year.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) by 9.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,156 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,121 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Booking were worth $51,395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Booking during the first quarter valued at approximately $41,000. North Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Booking in the first quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Mechanics Financial Corp acquired a new stake in Booking in the first quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,476.89, for a total value of $5,548,089.57. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 24,620 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $134,841,031.80. The trade was a 3.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 4,052 shares of company stock valued at $22,511,858. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,500.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Booking from $5,560.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating and issued a $6,700.00 target price (up from $6,100.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $6,200.00 price target (up previously from $6,000.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $5,781.04.

Booking Trading Up 1.4%

BKNG traded up $77.71 on Monday, reaching $5,532.00. The stock had a trading volume of 169,333 shares, compared to its average volume of 205,706. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $3,610.44 and a 12-month high of $5,839.41. The business's 50-day moving average price is $5,558.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5,131.66. The company has a market cap of $179.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. The business had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.54 billion. Booking had a net margin of 19.23% and a negative return on equity of 134.19%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $41.90 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

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.