Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Sold by Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd.

Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd. decreased its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 6.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 240 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 16 shares during the quarter. Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd.’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,106,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BKNG. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Booking by 521,609.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,363,345 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,887,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,362,892 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Booking by 621,874.8% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 864,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,295,423,000 after buying an additional 864,406 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth $1,958,352,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Booking by 51.4% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 280,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,394,283,000 after buying an additional 95,308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Booking by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 368,628 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,831,499,000 after acquiring an additional 58,357 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,960.00 to $5,557.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Booking from $5,000.00 to $4,800.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. B. Riley lifted their price target on Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Booking from $4,567.00 to $4,692.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Booking from $5,360.00 to $6,000.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,388.37.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of Booking stock opened at $5,301.05 on Wednesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $3,180.00 and a 1-year high of $5,639.70. The company has a market capitalization of $172.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.98, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.41. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $5,136.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4,943.85.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $24.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $17.57 by $7.24. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.58 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.58% and a negative return on equity of 143.67%. The company’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $20.39 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Booking’s payout ratio is 23.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 1,013 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,356.07, for a total value of $5,425,698.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 27,646 shares in the company, valued at $148,073,911.22. This trade represents a 3.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Booking Company Profile

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.