Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) CEO Sells $5,769,035.00 in Stock

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,695.00, for a total transaction of $5,769,035.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 26,633 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $151,674,935. This represents a 3.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG opened at $5,702.90 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $5,501.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5,021.32. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $3,180.00 and a 1 year high of $5,839.41. The company has a market capitalization of $185.57 billion, a PE ratio of 35.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $24.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $17.57 by $7.24. Booking had a negative return on equity of 143.67% and a net margin of 22.58%. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $20.39 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were issued a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.89%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the 2nd quarter worth $2,785,000. EWA LLC grew its stake in Booking by 7.2% during the second quarter. EWA LLC now owns 134 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $777,000 after buying an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Northstar Group Inc. increased its holdings in Booking by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Northstar Group Inc. now owns 1,184 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,855,000 after buying an additional 6 shares during the period. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Booking by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. Warren Street Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $434,000 after buying an additional 7 shares during the period. Finally, Pure Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 231.9% in the 2nd quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $906,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on BKNG shares. BTIG Research raised shares of Booking from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $5,500.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Booking from $4,692.00 to $5,411.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Bank of America increased their target price on Booking from $5,580.00 to $5,820.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Booking from $5,360.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Booking from $5,960.00 to $5,557.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,453.15.

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.