Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Sold by Thornburg Investment Management Inc.

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lessened its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,815 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 28 shares during the period. Booking makes up 0.9% of Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $66,614,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Enterprise Financial Services Corp lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 110 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the period. Hilltop Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Booking by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 358 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,270,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd grew its holdings in Booking by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd now owns 863 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,061,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Booking by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 624 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,264,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aspiriant LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 65 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $236,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Booking from $4,025.00 to $3,860.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,300.00 to $3,900.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Oppenheimer cut 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. Wedbush boosted their price target on Booking from $3,850.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Booking from $4,000.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $4,064.21.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $3,827.47 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.86 billion, a PE ratio of 28.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.40. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $3,768.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $3,702.01. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $2,733.04 and a 12-month high of $4,144.32.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $39.22 by $2.68. The company had revenue of $5.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.77 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 200.87% and a net margin of 22.46%. Booking’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $37.62 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total value of $388,761.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,722,379.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. 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.