Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Takes $12.10 Million Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky acquired a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG – Get Rating) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 7,363 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,099,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Booking by 37.2% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 64,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $151,044,000 after acquiring an additional 17,432 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Booking by 18.8% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 613 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,440,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the first quarter valued at $387,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Booking by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,585 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,767,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in Booking by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $404,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKNG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Credit Suisse Group raised their price target on shares of Booking from $2,600.00 to $2,850.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 24th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $2,050.00 to $2,524.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Mizuho increased their price target on Booking from $2,170.00 to $2,670.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 24th. TheStreet raised Booking from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Monday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Booking from $2,785.00 to $2,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $2,675.16.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO David I. Goulden sold 550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2,297.91, for a total value of $1,263,850.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,418,314.79. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CFO David I. Goulden sold 550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2,297.91, for a total transaction of $1,263,850.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,418,314.79. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2,320.41, for a total transaction of $3,248,574.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,643,239.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,085 shares of company stock worth $4,824,315 over the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Booking Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $2,439.91 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.56. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $1,616.85 and a 12-month high of $2,630.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $2,427.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $2,076.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.31.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 23rd. The business services provider reported $24.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $20.97 by $3.77. The business had revenue of $4.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.90 billion. Booking had a return on equity of 107.86% and a net margin of 17.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 35.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $15.83 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 127.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Booking

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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.