ProVise Management Group LLC Acquires 33 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

ProVise Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 1.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,080 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the quarter. Booking comprises about 1.0% of ProVise Management Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest position. ProVise Management Group LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $12,201,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Booking by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,954,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,718,390,000 after acquiring an additional 12,456 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 514,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,865,949,000 after buying an additional 21,969 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 376,656 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,336,085,000 after buying an additional 15,303 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 358,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,421,069,000 after buying an additional 10,889 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 275,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $976,096,000 after buying an additional 9,419 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BKNG. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Booking from $4,500.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,497.00 to $3,976.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,850.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Benchmark dropped their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,700.00 to $4,600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,150.00 to $4,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,064.21.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $4,028.30 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $135.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $2,733.04 and a 52-week high of $4,144.32. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $3,769.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $3,718.87.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $39.22 by $2.68. The firm had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the company earned $37.62 EPS. Analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Booking

In related 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 transaction of $3,050,737.50. Following the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related 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 transaction of $3,050,737.50. Following the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider now owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.