Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Sold by Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. trimmed its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 99.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 83 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 40,517 shares during the period. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in Booking were worth $450,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Booking by 400.0% during the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares in the last quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 150.0% in the 3rd quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Booking by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Davis Capital Management acquired a new stake in Booking in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new position in Booking during the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on BKNG shares. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Booking from $5,550.00 to $5,830.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Seaport Research Partners increased their target price on Booking from $6,030.00 to $6,260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price target on Booking from $6,250.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. B. Riley boosted their price target on Booking from $6,700.00 to $6,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on Booking from $6,000.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6,209.94.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $5,098.50 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $164.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.23. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $4,096.23 and a 12 month high of $5,839.41. The company has a 50-day moving average of $5,191.00 and a 200-day moving average of $5,337.30.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.96%.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In related news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,570,000. This trade represents a 11.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $80,430.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,764,124. This trade represents a 2.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 3,324 shares of company stock valued at $17,190,323. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Booking Company Profile

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.