HBK Sorce Advisory LLC Decreases Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lowered its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 15.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 22 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at $1,068,137,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Booking by 3,557.5% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 142,166 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $333,870,000 after purchasing an additional 138,279 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 61.6% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 295,891 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $596,303,000 after acquiring an additional 112,831 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 2,479.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 116,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $414,234,000 after acquiring an additional 112,249 shares during the period. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth $222,919,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on BKNG shares. Ascendiant Capital Markets lifted their price target on Booking from $3,700.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 29th. Edward Jones reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, February 16th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Booking from $3,600.00 to $4,100.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on Booking from $3,600.00 to $3,950.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Booking from $3,548.00 to $3,435.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,723.41.

Booking Stock Up 0.1 %

BKNG stock opened at $3,586.13 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $3,596.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $3,349.31. The stock has a market cap of $122.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.40, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,456.93 and a fifty-two week high of $3,918.00.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $32.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $29.72 by $2.28. The business had revenue of $4.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 751.49% and a net margin of 20.08%. The company’s revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $24.74 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 175.86 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO David I. Goulden sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,494.47, for a total transaction of $3,494,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,657,571.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO David I. Goulden sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,494.47, for a total transaction of $3,494,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,657,571.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 28 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,497.80, for a total value of $97,938.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,217,234.40. 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 over the last three months. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.