Smith Salley Wealth Management Increases Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Smith Salley Wealth Management increased its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 26.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 599 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management’s holdings in Booking were worth $3,236,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 150.0% during the 3rd quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in Booking in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Booking by 400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 4 shares in the last quarter. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Booking during the second quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank grew its stake in Booking by 100.0% in the second quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upped their target price on Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $5,433.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Thursday, October 30th. B. Riley boosted their target price on Booking from $6,700.00 to $6,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on shares of Booking from $5,590.00 to $5,550.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Wedbush raised Booking from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $6,000.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6,149.23.

Booking Trading Down 0.3%

BKNG stock opened at $5,427.15 on Wednesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $4,096.23 and a 52 week high of $5,839.41. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $5,116.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5,370.96. The company has a market capitalization of $174.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.25.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. The business had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. Booking had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 134.86%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $83.39 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.96%.

Insider Activity at Booking

In related news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,362.00, for a total transaction of $80,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 702 shares in the company, valued at $3,764,124. This trade represents a 2.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,570,000. This represents a 11.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,324 shares of company stock worth $17,193,557. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Booking Company Profile

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.