Smith Group Asset Management LLC Trims Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Smith Group Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,823 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 43 shares during the quarter. Booking accounts for 2.7% of Smith Group Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Smith Group Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $32,951,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Booking by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,954,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,718,390,000 after buying an additional 12,456 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 514,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,865,949,000 after purchasing an additional 21,969 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 358,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,421,069,000 after purchasing an additional 10,889 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 193,515 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $702,049,000 after purchasing an additional 43,743 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 22.1% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 159,956 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $584,492,000 after purchasing an additional 28,904 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Booking

In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total transaction of $388,761.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,722,379.07. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Booking from $3,900.00 to $4,500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Booking from $4,200.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. B. Riley reduced their price target on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $4,650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,976.00 to $4,173.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,150.00 to $4,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,256.89.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $4,347.59 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $4,071.40 and its 200 day moving average is $3,856.08. The company has a market capitalization of $145.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $2,756.13 and a one year high of $4,395.00.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $39.22 by $2.68. Booking had a net margin of 22.46% and a negative return on equity of 200.87%. The firm had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $37.62 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $8.75 dividend. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.50%.

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.