Teacher Retirement System of Texas Decreases Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Teacher Retirement System of Texas cut its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,153 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 833 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Booking were worth $81,815,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BKNG. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Booking by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 251 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,249,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 25.0% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $955,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the second quarter worth approximately $266,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Booking by 8.3% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 5,329 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $30,851,000 after buying an additional 408 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In related news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,362.00, for a total transaction of $80,430.00. Following the sale, the director owned 702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,764,124. The trade was a 2.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,570,000. This represents a 11.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 3,324 shares of company stock valued at $17,190,323 in the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKNG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $5,523.00 to $5,954.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Booking from $5,550.00 to $5,830.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $6,325.00 price target on Booking in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners increased their price objective on Booking from $6,030.00 to $6,260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. One investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6,229.61.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG stock opened at $5,150.90 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $4,096.23 and a 1 year high of $5,839.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $5,189.99 and a 200 day moving average of $5,344.90. The company has a market cap of $166.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.48, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.23.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. The firm had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $83.39 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th were issued a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 24.96%.

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.