Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Reduces Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado cut its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,732 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 234 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Booking were worth $18,746,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 303 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,075,000 after buying an additional 5 shares in the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 45.2% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 151 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $536,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Booking by 169.2% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,085 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,849,000 after purchasing an additional 682 shares during the last quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,203,000. Finally, AXS Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,064,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Erste Group Bank upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Booking from $4,500.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. DA Davidson cut their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,000.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,064.21.

Booking Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:BKNG opened at $4,064.01 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $3,772.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3,725.13. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $2,733.04 and a twelve month high of $4,144.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.48, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.40.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a $8.75 dividend. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the company’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 transaction, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total transaction of $388,761.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,556,375.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Booking Company 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.