Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Sells 555 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 12.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,071 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 555 shares during the quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $18,753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on BKNG. B. Riley boosted their target price on Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Booking from $4,567.00 to $4,692.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. 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. BTIG Research upgraded Booking from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $5,500.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $5,900.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,388.37.

Booking Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,333.42 on Tuesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $3,180.00 and a 1-year high of $5,639.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $5,195.63 and a 200-day moving average of $4,943.03. The firm has a market cap of $173.55 billion, a PE ratio of 33.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $24.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $4.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $20.39 EPS. Booking’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Booking’s payout ratio is 23.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,356.07, for a total transaction of $5,425,698.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 27,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,073,911.22. This represents a 3.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.