New York State Teachers Retirement System Lowers Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lessened its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 32,676 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,578 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Booking were worth $137,635,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Booking Stock Performance

Booking stock traded up $4.40 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $4,431.94. 29,195 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 243,474. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $2,756.13 and a 12 month high of $4,440.87. The company has a market cap of $148.56 billion, a PE ratio of 31.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $4,085.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3,862.39.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $39.22 by $2.68. Booking had a negative return on equity of 200.87% and a net margin of 22.46%. The company had revenue of $5.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $37.62 earnings per share. Booking’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $3,900.00 to $4,750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $4,350.00 to $5,050.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Booking from $3,950.00 to $4,448.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $3,900.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,256.89.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

About Booking

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.