Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Sold by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems cut its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,557 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 93 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Booking were worth $10,130,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BKNG. Enterprise Financial Services Corp grew its stake in Booking by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 110 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Booking by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 358 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,270,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd grew its stake in Booking by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd now owns 863 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,061,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in Booking by 0.5% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 624 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,264,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aspiriant LLC grew its stake in Booking by 4.8% in the first quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 65 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $236,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. B. Riley cut their target price on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $4,650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Booking from $4,600.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $3,900.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Benchmark cut their target price on shares of Booking from $4,700.00 to $4,600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,064.21.

Booking Stock Performance

Booking stock opened at $4,028.30 on Thursday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $2,733.04 and a 1 year high of $4,144.32. The firm has a market cap of $135.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $3,769.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3,718.87.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $39.22 by $2.68. The firm had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.77 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.46% and a negative return on equity of 200.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $37.62 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total transaction of $3,050,737.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total value of $3,050,737.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total transaction of $388,761.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Booking Company 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.