Short Interest in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Decreases By 7.6%

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 700,400 shares, a decline of 7.6% from the April 15th total of 757,700 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 286,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ:BKNG traded down $57.52 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $3,735.01. 198,308 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 269,629. Booking has a 1-year low of $2,456.93 and a 1-year high of $3,918.00. The firm's 50-day moving average is $3,564.39 and its 200-day moving average is $3,454.61. The stock has a market cap of $126.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $14.03 by $6.36. Booking had a negative return on equity of 288.35% and a net margin of 21.81%. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $11.60 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Booking will post 178.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Booking's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on Booking from $3,580.00 to $4,250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Erste Group Bank reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Booking from $3,950.00 to $4,025.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Susquehanna upped their target price on Booking from $3,600.00 to $4,100.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $3,850.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $3,876.96.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,583.07, for a total value of $78,827.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 211 shares of the company's stock, valued at $756,027.77. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,583.07, for a total transaction of $78,827.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 211 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $756,027.77. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total value of $14,724,670.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 33,548 shares of the company's stock, valued at $114,826,417. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,651 shares of company stock valued at $19,485,975. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of Booking by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,443 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $10,618,000 after buying an additional 568 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 86.4% in the 3rd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 151 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $466,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Booking by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 120 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Aubrey Capital Management Ltd purchased a new position in Booking in the third quarter valued at about $2,159,000. Finally, Optas LLC purchased a new position in Booking in the third quarter valued at about $330,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.