Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Sold by Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co lessened its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 7.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 904 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 75 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s holdings in Booking were worth $3,581,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BKNG. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in Booking in the 1st quarter valued at about $401,371,000. BlueSpruce Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $220,080,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 4,565.4% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 62,610 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $227,143,000 after acquiring an additional 61,268 shares in the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Booking by 96.3% during the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 113,572 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $403,233,000 after acquiring an additional 55,716 shares during the period. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Booking by 29.2% during the first quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 193,515 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $702,049,000 after purchasing an additional 43,743 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 24,721 shares in the company, valued at $100,556,375.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the insider now owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at $14,722,379.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BKNG. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Booking from $4,285.00 to $4,580.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Wedbush raised their target price on Booking from $3,850.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $3,900.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $4,000.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $4,064.21.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $4,042.43 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $135.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.32, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,733.04 and a fifty-two week high of $4,144.32. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $3,768.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3,716.69.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $39.22 by $2.68. The firm had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.77 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.46% and a negative return on equity of 200.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $37.62 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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