Welch & Forbes LLC Has $30.77 Million Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Welch & Forbes LLC increased its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,675 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $30,772,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BKNG. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 2,479.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 116,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $414,234,000 after purchasing an additional 112,249 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,774,850,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in Booking by 139.8% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 65,179 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $201,166,000 after buying an additional 37,994 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 41.8% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 101,736 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $317,313,000 after buying an additional 30,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rathbones Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 161.5% in the third quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 39,215 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $120,937,000 after acquiring an additional 24,219 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BKNG. 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. UBS Group lifted their price target on Booking from $4,000.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. B. Riley assumed coverage on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $4,400.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $4,205.00 price objective (up previously from $4,150.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Booking from $3,435.00 to $3,494.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,823.00.

Insider Activity at Booking

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 transaction of $14,724,670.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 33,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,826,417. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,437.25, for a total transaction of $75,619.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 189 shares in the company, valued at $649,640.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total transaction of $14,724,670.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 33,548 shares in the company, valued at $114,826,417. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,483 shares of company stock valued at $18,891,445. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Stock Up 0.6 %

Booking stock traded up $21.03 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $3,598.41. 349,955 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 270,303. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,456.93 and a fifty-two week high of $3,918.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.99, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $3,526.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3,412.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $14.03 by $6.36. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.25 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 288.35% and a net margin of 21.81%. Booking’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $11.60 EPS. Research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.46 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Booking’s payout ratio is 26.25%.

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.