Boston Trust Walden Corp Buys Shares of 7,003 Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Boston Trust Walden Corp purchased a new position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 7,003 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $24,841,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter worth $1,068,137,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Booking by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 383,996 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,184,224,000 after buying an additional 5,040 shares in the last quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd increased its position in Booking by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 314,655 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $849,672,000 after buying an additional 8,896 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Booking by 61.6% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 295,891 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $596,303,000 after buying an additional 112,831 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Booking by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 217,517 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $510,828,000 after buying an additional 5,506 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Booking from $3,900.00 to $3,800.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Booking from $3,600.00 to $4,100.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Booking from $3,560.00 to $3,950.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Mizuho increased their price objective on Booking from $3,580.00 to $4,250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Edward Jones reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, February 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $3,723.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total transaction of $14,724,670.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 33,548 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $114,826,417. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,485.00, for a total transaction of $1,045,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,752,005. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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. Insiders sold a total of 6,467 shares of company stock valued at $22,299,114 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.15% of the company's stock.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG traded up $79.97 during trading on Friday, reaching $3,601.90. The stock had a trading volume of 258,489 shares, compared to its average volume of 286,001. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,456.93 and a fifty-two week high of $3,918.00. The company has a market cap of $123.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.53, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.40. The business's 50-day moving average price is $3,593.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $3,336.55.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $32.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $29.72 by $2.28. Booking had a negative return on equity of 751.49% and a net margin of 20.08%. The business had revenue of $4.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $24.74 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 175.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Booking's dividend payout ratio is presently 29.67%.

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.