Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Director Sells $200,000.00 in Stock

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Director Robert Mylod, Jr. sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 14,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,800,000. This trade represents a 6.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG stock opened at $193.29 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $194.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $178.43. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $150.14 and a one year high of $226.10. The stock has a market cap of $145.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.07.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.19 billion. Booking had a net margin of 25.53% and a negative return on equity of 102.96%. The company’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $55.40 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 18.58%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Booking

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Booking by 419,256.0% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 214,651,580 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,259,498,000 after acquiring an additional 214,600,394 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Booking in the second quarter worth $11,646,302,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Booking in the second quarter worth $1,691,186,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Booking in the second quarter valued at about $1,370,455,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Booking by 2,525.5% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,101,866 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,087,597,000 after purchasing an additional 5,869,459 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BKNG shares. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $234.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. B. Riley Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $274.00 price objective (up from $264.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. DA Davidson set a $240.00 price objective on Booking in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Booking from $266.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $230.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.70.

About Booking

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel company that operates a portfolio of consumer brands and technology platforms that facilitate the search for and booking of travel services. The company’s businesses focus on accommodations, transportation and related travel services through consumer-facing websites and apps as well as partner distribution channels. Booking Holdings was originally founded as Priceline in the late 1990s and adopted the Booking Holdings name in 2018; it is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Its core offerings include online reservations for hotels, vacation rentals and other lodging; flight and car rental search and booking; and ancillary services that support travel planning and on-property experiences.