Ledyard National Bank Takes $265,000 Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Ledyard National Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 63 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $265,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Booking by 0.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 12,456 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Booking by 4.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 514,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,865,949,000 after purchasing an additional 21,969 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its position in Booking by 3.1% during the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 358,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,421,069,000 after purchasing an additional 10,889 shares during the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in Booking by 29.2% during the first quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 193,515 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $702,049,000 after purchasing an additional 43,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Booking by 22.1% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 159,956 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $584,492,000 after purchasing an additional 28,904 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BKNG. StockNews.com raised Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Booking from $4,150.00 to $4,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Booking from $4,000.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Booking from $3,976.00 to $4,173.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Booking from $4,275.00 to $4,105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $4,133.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the company’s 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 value 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Up 0.3 %

BKNG stock opened at $4,377.78 on Wednesday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $2,733.04 and a 1-year high of $4,395.00. The firm has a market cap of $146.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.40. The business’s 50 day moving average is $4,015.02 and its 200-day moving average is $3,835.37.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $5.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $37.62 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.05 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $8.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.50%.

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.