Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Has $32.61 Million Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lessened its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 37.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,746 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,610 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Booking were worth $32,613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Western Trust Bank increased its position in shares of Booking by 3.4% during the third quarter. First Western Trust Bank now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. CGN Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. CGN Advisors LLC now owns 57 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $305,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. lifted its position in Booking by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 140 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $750,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Booking by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,003,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC boosted its stake in Booking by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 322 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,725,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on BKNG. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Booking from $226.00 to $223.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Argus set a $210.00 target price on Booking and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Booking from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Booking from $224.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $227.26.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $178.39 on Monday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $150.14 and a twelve month high of $231.80. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $168.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $180.00. The company has a market capitalization of $138.23 billion, a PE ratio of 23.46, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.07.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 117.14% and a net margin of 22.23%.Booking’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 22.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total transaction of $3,100,331.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,269,532.64. This trade represents a 5.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,050 shares in the company, valued at $3,081,600. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 80,351 shares of company stock worth $13,545,706 in the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Booking Profile

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel company that operates a portfolio of consumer brands and technology platforms that facilitate the search for and booking of travel services. The company’s businesses focus on accommodations, transportation and related travel services through consumer-facing websites and apps as well as partner distribution channels. Booking Holdings was originally founded as Priceline in the late 1990s and adopted the Booking Holdings name in 2018; it is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Its core offerings include online reservations for hotels, vacation rentals and other lodging; flight and car rental search and booking; and ancillary services that support travel planning and on-property experiences.