Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Purchases Shares of 37 Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 37 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $131,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $1,068,137,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Booking by 3,557.5% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 142,166 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $333,870,000 after purchasing an additional 138,279 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Booking by 61.6% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 295,891 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $596,303,000 after acquiring an additional 112,831 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Booking by 2,479.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 116,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $414,234,000 after acquiring an additional 112,249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Booking during the 4th quarter worth $222,919,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Booking news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total value of $218,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,069,300. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Booking news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total value of $218,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,069,300. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,485.00, for a total transaction of $1,045,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,233 shares in the company, valued at $14,752,005. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,461 shares of company stock valued at $18,815,825 over the last three months. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Ascendiant Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $3,700.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,855.00 to $4,285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 28th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,600.00 to $4,100.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $3,850.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Thursday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $3,723.41.

Booking Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of BKNG traded down $15.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $3,414.82. 218,821 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 206,505. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $2,456.93 and a one year high of $3,918.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $3,571.22 and a 200 day moving average of $3,366.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $116.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.95, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $32.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $29.72 by $2.28. Booking had a net margin of 20.08% and a negative return on equity of 751.49%. The business had revenue of $4.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $24.74 earnings per share. Booking’s revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 175.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.67%.

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.