FourThought Financial LLC Raises Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

FourThought Financial LLC increased its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG – Get Rating) by 11.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 109 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the quarter. FourThought Financial LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $179,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. Seeyond increased its stake in Booking by 7.8% in the second quarter. Seeyond now owns 611 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,068,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its stake in Booking by 26.1% in the third quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 251 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $412,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in Booking by 4.1% during the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 231 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 9 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Booking by 64.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 35,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $61,190,000 after buying an additional 13,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BKNG shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Booking from $2,050.00 to $2,400.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 19th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $2,750.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Tuesday. TheStreet raised Booking from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Monday, December 12th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Booking from $2,650.00 to $2,900.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, February 27th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on Booking from $2,170.00 to $2,670.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $2,675.16.

Booking Stock Performance

Booking stock opened at $2,440.85 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $2,432.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $2,080.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.56, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a current ratio of 1.86. The stock has a market cap of $91.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.35, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.31. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $1,616.85 and a fifty-two week high of $2,630.00.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 427 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2,427.11, for a total transaction of $1,036,375.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 42,949 shares in the company, valued at $104,241,947.39. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO David I. Goulden sold 550 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,969 shares in the company, valued at $11,418,314.79. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 427 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2,427.11, for a total transaction of $1,036,375.97. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 42,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $104,241,947.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,098 shares of company stock worth $7,278,014. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.