Montecito Bank & Trust Buys New Shares in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Montecito Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 127 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $461,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Howard Financial Services LTD. grew its position in Booking by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 129 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co grew its position in Booking by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 764 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,710,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Booking by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 88 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $312,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in shares of Booking by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 69 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated grew its position in shares of Booking by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 164 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $582,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG opened at $3,972.08 on Friday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,605.00 and a fifty-two week high of $4,004.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $134.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.79, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $3,696.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3,591.37.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Booking’s payout ratio is 26.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. HSBC lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,220.00 to $4,230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Argus raised their target price on shares of Booking from $4,200.00 to $4,342.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Booking from $3,950.00 to $4,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Booking from $3,900.00 to $3,800.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $3,902.54.

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.