Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Increases Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. boosted its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 246 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the period. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $872,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 17,432 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Booking by 18.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 613 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,440,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the 1st quarter worth about $387,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Booking by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,585 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,767,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $404,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 300 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Booking news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total transaction of $218,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,069,300. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,485.00, for a total value 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 approximately $14,752,005. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,467 shares of company stock valued at $22,299,114 over the last ninety days. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BKNG. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $4,000.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Ascendiant Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $3,700.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 29th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $3,600.00 to $4,100.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Booking from $3,250.00 to $4,000.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 12th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3,697.38.

Booking Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG traded down $45.52 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $3,627.98. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 183,713 shares, compared to its average volume of 286,163. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,456.93 and a fifty-two week high of $3,918.00. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $3,584.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3,316.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.80, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $32.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $29.72 by $2.28. Booking had a net margin of 20.08% and a negative return on equity of 751.49%. The business had revenue of $4.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $24.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 175.46 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th will be given a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.67%.

Booking 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.