Insider Selling: Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) Director Sells 15 Shares of Stock

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,362.00, for a total value of $80,430.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,764,124. This represents a 2.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Vanessa Ames Wittman also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, November 17th, Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of Booking stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,030.00, for a total value of $75,450.00.
• On Wednesday, October 15th, Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of Booking stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,291.98, for a total transaction of $79,379.70.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG traded down $20.77 on Tuesday, reaching $5,436.93. The company had a trading volume of 220,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 251,118. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $4,096.23 and a 52-week high of $5,839.41. The company has a market cap of $175.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $5,061.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5,377.90.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. Booking had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 134.86%. The firm had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $83.39 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a $9.60 dividend. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BKNG shares. Truist Financial set a $5,810.00 price objective on Booking in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group set a $6,806.00 price target on shares of Booking and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $6,325.00 price objective on Booking in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Bank of America upgraded Booking from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $6,000.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6,149.23.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Booking

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its holdings in Booking by 15.6% in the second quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 511 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,958,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in Booking by 18.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 75,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $437,284,000 after buying an additional 11,829 shares in the last quarter. Covey Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Booking by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Covey Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,467,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Booking by 67.3% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $174,893,000 after buying an additional 12,148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in Booking by 12.7% in the second quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 2,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,262,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% 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.