Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Holdings Boosted by Texas Permanent School Fund Corp

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Booking were worth $26,157,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 895 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,247,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Team Hewins LLC grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Team Hewins LLC now owns 182 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $660,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 23.9% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 270 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $980,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalina Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in Booking in the first quarter worth $486,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,494.00 to $3,497.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $4,205.00 price objective (up from $4,150.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,285.00 to $4,580.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,200.00 to $4,342.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $3,950.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,933.23.

Insider Activity at Booking

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,534.10, for a total value of $2,650,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 26,971 shares in the company, valued at $95,318,211.10. 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,534.10, for a total transaction of $2,650,575.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 26,971 shares in the company, valued at $95,318,211.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,437.25, for a total transaction of $75,619.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 189 shares in the company, valued at $649,640.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,021 shares of company stock worth $3,617,852 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of BKNG traded down $53.64 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $3,936.41. 229,387 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 250,892. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $2,733.04 and a one year high of $4,040.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $3,831.67 and a 200 day moving average of $3,650.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.55, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a $8.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

Booking 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.