Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) to Issue $8.75 Quarterly Dividend

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 1st, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of 8.75 per share by the business services provider on Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th.

Booking has a dividend payout ratio of 17.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Booking to earn $202.95 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $35.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.2%.

Booking Stock Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ BKNG traded up $72.86 on Friday, reaching $4,749.11. 519,002 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 247,425. Booking has a 12 month low of $2,756.39 and a 12 month high of $4,856.60. The company has a market cap of $159.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $4,118.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3,872.22.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $83.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $77.94 by $5.95. The firm had revenue of $7.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.63 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 165.63% and a net margin of 21.85%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Booking will post 177.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at $14,722,379.07. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BKNG. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,250.00 to $4,800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday, September 6th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $4,100.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,200.00 to $4,600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $3,590.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,500.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $4,680.18.

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.