Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Cuts Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank cut its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 51.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,510 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 16,325 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Booking were worth $55,017,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 37.2% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 64,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $151,044,000 after buying an additional 17,432 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 18.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 613 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,440,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $387,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,585 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,767,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $404,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total value of $14,724,670.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 33,548 shares in the company, valued at $114,826,417. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $14,752,005. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total value of $14,724,670.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 33,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,826,417. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,689 shares of company stock worth $16,086,423 over the last ninety days. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Stock Performance

Booking stock traded down $17.86 on Tuesday, reaching $3,467.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 210,610 shares, compared to its average volume of 276,910. The company has a market cap of $118.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.55, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $2,456.93 and a twelve month high of $3,918.00. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $3,595.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $3,360.99.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $8.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BKNG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Booking from $3,560.00 to $3,950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Booking from $3,080.00 to $3,610.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Susquehanna raised their price target on Booking from $3,600.00 to $4,100.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Booking from $3,450.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Booking from $3,900.00 to $3,800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $3,723.41.

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.