Wealthspire Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Wealthspire Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 12.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 186 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 20 shares during the quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $857,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BKNG. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Booking by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 31 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $158,000 after buying an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Booking by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 124 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $616,000 after buying an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its position in Booking by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 95 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Elequin Capital LP raised its position in shares of Booking by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 12 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Booking by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 167 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $809,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,695.00, for a total transaction of $5,769,035.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 26,633 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $151,674,935. This trade represents a 3.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 3,039 shares of company stock valued at $16,963,769 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Booking from $5,360.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,720.00 to $5,630.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. UBS Group increased their target price on Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their price target on Booking from $5,600.00 to $5,700.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5,781.04.

Booking Stock Down 1.9%

BKNG opened at $5,432.10 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $5,571.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5,090.75. The firm has a market cap of $176.05 billion, a PE ratio of 37.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.41. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3,307.90 and a fifty-two week high of $5,839.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $50.32 by $5.08. The company had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. Booking had a net margin of 19.23% and a negative return on equity of 134.19%. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $41.90 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Booking’s payout ratio is 26.71%.

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.