Insider Selling: Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) CFO Sells $4,220,600.00 in Stock

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) CFO Ewout Steenbergen sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.03, for a total value of $4,220,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 59,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,618,327.82. The trade was a 25.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ:BKNG traded up $1.08 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $213.34. 3,680,861 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,471,854. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $182.16 and its 200-day moving average is $176.92. The stock has a market cap of $160.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.07. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $150.14 and a 1-year high of $231.80.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. Booking had a negative return on equity of 102.96% and a net margin of 25.53%.The business had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $55.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.58%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Booking

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Booking during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,646,302,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Booking during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,691,186,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Booking during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,370,455,000. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its stake in Booking by 191,965.8% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,832,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,171,489,000 after buying an additional 2,831,495 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Booking during the second quarter worth approximately $472,723,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on BKNG. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $215.00 price target on Booking and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Booking from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings raised Booking from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $234.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $210.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.72.

Booking Company Profile

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.