Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 8.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 81 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7 shares during the quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 227 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,580.75, for a total value of $812,830.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,157,314.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,583.07, for a total transaction of $78,827.54. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 211 shares in the company, valued at $756,027.77. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 227 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,580.75, for a total value of $812,830.25. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 4,233 shares in the company, valued at $15,157,314.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,021 shares of company stock worth $3,617,852 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, May 3rd. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $3,950.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Monday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Booking from $3,435.00 to $3,494.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, B. Riley started coverage on Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $4,400.00 price objective for the company. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $3,902.54.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG stock opened at $3,961.50 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $134.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $2,624.50 and a 1 year high of $4,040.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $3,759.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $3,623.63.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $14.03 by $6.36. The firm had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.25 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 288.35% and a net margin of 21.81%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $11.60 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 178.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $8.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.25%.

About Booking

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.