Insider Selling: Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Insider Sells $610,440.00 in Stock

Key Points

• Booking insider Paulo Pisano sold 3,000 shares for approximately $610,440 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan, reducing his ownership by 3.93% to 73,400 shares.
• BKNG shares fell 1.7% to $195.69, while the company’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations with $2.54 in EPS and $7.35 billion in revenue, up 8.1% year over year.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $236.70; Booking also declared a $0.42 quarterly dividend.

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) insider Paulo Pisano sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.48, for a total value of $610,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 73,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,935,432. The trade was a 3.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Booking Trading Down 1.7%

BKNG stock traded down $3.40 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $195.69. The stock had a trading volume of 5,294,518 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,183,288. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $150.14 and a 52 week high of $226.10. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $192.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.07.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.19 billion. Booking had a net margin of 25.53% and a negative return on equity of 102.96%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $55.40 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.48 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Booking's payout ratio is presently 18.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $240.00 price objective (up from $215.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Rosenblatt Securities assumed coverage on Booking in a report on Tuesday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $245.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $215.00 target price on Booking and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $230.00 price objective on Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $236.70.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG bought a new position in Booking in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,687,000. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC boosted its position in Booking by 2,860.8% in the 2nd quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 12,554 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,238,000 after buying an additional 12,130 shares during the last quarter. Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at $361,463,000. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Booking by 1,663.9% in the 2nd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 28,698 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,115,000 after buying an additional 27,071 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Booking by 2,643.0% during the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 527,425 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $94,008,000 after acquiring an additional 508,197 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Booking

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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