Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Bought by Professional Advisory Services Inc.

Professional Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,193 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 45 shares during the quarter. Booking makes up approximately 4.5% of Professional Advisory Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Professional Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $34,510,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 12,456 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Booking by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 514,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,865,949,000 after purchasing an additional 21,969 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its position in shares of Booking by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 358,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,421,069,000 after purchasing an additional 10,889 shares during the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Booking by 29.2% during the 1st quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 193,515 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $702,049,000 after purchasing an additional 43,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 28,904 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,370.77 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $3,962.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3,815.43. The company has a market cap of $148.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $2,733.04 and a 12-month high of $4,394.95.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its 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 company had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $37.62 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 26.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BKNG shares. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Booking from $3,950.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson cut their price target on Booking from $4,150.00 to $4,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Benchmark cut their price target on Booking from $4,700.00 to $4,600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, B. Riley cut their price target on Booking from $4,900.00 to $4,650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4,130.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Booking 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.