Disciplined Equity Management Inc. Lowers Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Disciplined Equity Management Inc. cut its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 250 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7 shares during the quarter. Disciplined Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $907,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the 1st quarter valued at $401,371,000. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in Booking by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $57,635,000 after buying an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp acquired a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter worth about $24,841,000. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft grew its stake in shares of Booking by 35.7% during the fourth quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 1,889 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,699,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Booking by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 32,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $113,827,000 after purchasing an additional 729 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on BKNG shares. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $3,950.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Booking from $4,285.00 to $4,580.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their price target on Booking from $3,800.00 to $4,300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $3,850.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, B. Riley initiated coverage on Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $4,400.00 target price on the stock. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,933.23.

Booking Trading Down 1.3 %

BKNG stock traded down $53.64 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $3,936.41. The stock had a trading volume of 229,387 shares, compared to its average volume of 250,892. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $2,733.04 and a 52-week high of $4,040.00. The company has a market cap of $133.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.38. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $3,831.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3,650.80.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $14.03 by $6.36. The firm had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.25 billion. Booking had a net margin of 21.81% and a negative return on equity of 288.35%. Booking’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $11.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 178.54 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,534.10, for a total transaction of $2,650,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 26,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,318,211.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Booking news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,583.07, for a total value of $78,827.54. Following the transaction, the director now owns 211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $756,027.77. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,534.10, for a total transaction of $2,650,575.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 26,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,318,211.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,021 shares of company stock worth $3,617,852 in the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is 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.