Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Sells 3 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lessened its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 106 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $446,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. RFG Advisory LLC bought a new position in Booking during the 1st quarter worth about $528,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 55.6% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 70 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $254,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its position in shares of Booking by 31.2% in the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 265 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $962,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Aspiriant LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 4.8% in the first quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 65 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $236,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DGS Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the first quarter valued at about $417,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BKNG shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on 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. Benchmark lowered their target price on Booking from $4,700.00 to $4,600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com raised Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Booking from $4,600.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Booking from $4,275.00 to $4,105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Ten investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $4,133.75.

Booking Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $4,377.78 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $4,015.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3,835.37. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $2,733.04 and a 1 year high of $4,395.00. The stock has a market cap of $146.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $5.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $37.62 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.05 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at $14,722,379.07. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.