Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Sold by Capital International Sarl

Capital International Sarl reduced its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 49.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,821 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,593 shares during the period. Capital International Sarl’s holdings in Booking were worth $31,173,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Daytona Street Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Camelot Portfolios LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BKNG shares. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $215.00 target price (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Booking and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Susquehanna set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Booking from $250.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, HSBC reduced their price objective on shares of Booking from $309.84 to $298.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.14.

Booking Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $165.84 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $169.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $128.51 billion, a PE ratio of 21.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.08. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $150.14 and a fifty-two week high of $233.58.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 117.14%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.99 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 22.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total value of $3,100,331.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,174 shares in the company, valued at $55,269,532.64. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 16,050 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,081,600. This trade represents a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 97,076 shares of company stock worth $16,417,121 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.