Welch & Forbes LLC Raises Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Welch & Forbes LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,675 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $30,772,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 85 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 5 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the third quarter valued at approximately $256,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Booking by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 56 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $173,000 after purchasing an additional 8 shares in the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 157.1% during the 3rd quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 18 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Booking by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 196 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $605,000 after buying an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on Booking from $4,000.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $3,800.00 to $4,500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America increased their price target on Booking from $3,900.00 to $3,950.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Ten 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.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,823.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total transaction of $14,724,670.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 33,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,826,417. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of Booking stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 26,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,318,211.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total transaction of $14,724,670.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 33,548 shares in the company, valued at $114,826,417. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,483 shares of company stock valued at $18,891,445 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:BKNG traded up $21.03 on Monday, reaching $3,598.41. The stock had a trading volume of 349,955 shares, compared to its average volume of 270,303. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $2,456.93 and a 12-month high of $3,918.00. The stock has a market cap of $122.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50-day moving average of $3,526.40 and a 200 day moving average of $3,412.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $14.03 by $6.36. Booking had a negative return on equity of 288.35% and a net margin of 21.81%. The firm had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $11.60 EPS. Booking’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.46 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.