Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) CEO Glenn Fogel Sells 669 Shares

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) CEO Glenn Fogel sold 669 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,292.10, for a total transaction of $2,871,414.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,596 shares in the company, valued at $54,063,291.60. The trade was a 5.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Booking Trading Up 3.5%

Shares of BKNG stock traded up $149.31 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $4,442.33. 326,538 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 421,604. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $3,765.45 and a 52 week high of $5,839.41. The business has a 50 day moving average of $4,644.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5,033.44. The company has a market capitalization of $140.69 billion, a PE ratio of 26.74, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.21.

Booking shares are scheduled to split on the morning of Monday, April 6th. The 25-1 split was announced on Wednesday, February 18th. The newly minted shares will be issued to shareholders after the market closes on Thursday, April 2nd.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $48.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $47.96 by $0.84. Booking had a negative return on equity of 128.99% and a net margin of 20.08%.The company had revenue of $6.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $41.55 earnings per share. Booking’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a $10.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Booking’s previous quarterly dividend of $9.60. This represents a $42.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.28%.

Institutional Trading of Booking

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 191,965.8% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,832,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,171,489,000 after acquiring an additional 2,831,495 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,271,041,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Booking by 578,824.0% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 289,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,675,765,000 after buying an additional 289,412 shares during the last quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Booking by 28,353.8% during the fourth quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 204,298 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,094,083,000 after buying an additional 203,580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 862.0% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 218,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,167,890,000 after buying an additional 195,411 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BKNG shares. Benchmark decreased their target price on Booking from $6,400.00 to $5,600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Argus decreased their target price on shares of Booking from $6,400.00 to $4,700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $6,250.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wedbush reduced their price target on Booking from $6,000.00 to $5,500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Citizens Jmp restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Twenty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5,845.61.

About Booking

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel company that operates a portfolio of consumer brands and technology platforms that facilitate the search for and booking of travel services. The company’s businesses focus on accommodations, transportation and related travel services through consumer-facing websites and apps as well as partner distribution channels. Booking Holdings was originally founded as Priceline in the late 1990s and adopted the Booking Holdings name in 2018; it is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Its core offerings include online reservations for hotels, vacation rentals and other lodging; flight and car rental search and booking; and ancillary services that support travel planning and on-property experiences.