Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Sold by Scharf Investments LLC

Scharf Investments LLC reduced its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 27.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,451 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 9,063 shares during the period. Booking makes up about 2.3% of Scharf Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Scharf Investments LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Booking worth $85,078,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Booking by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,836,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 18.2% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 117 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 8.2% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 66 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $204,000 after acquiring an additional 5 shares in the last quarter. Operose Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 2,000.0% in the third quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 42 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $130,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westover Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Booking during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $333,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,583.07, for a total transaction of $78,827.54. Following the sale, the director now owns 211 shares in the company, valued at $756,027.77. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 227 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,580.75, for a total value of $812,830.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,157,314.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,583.07, for a total value of $78,827.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $756,027.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,021 shares of company stock worth $3,617,852 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG traded up $27.02 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $4,009.40. The stock had a trading volume of 146,321 shares, compared to its average volume of 255,197. The company has a market capitalization of $136.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $3,737.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3,616.64. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $2,624.50 and a 52 week high of $4,040.00.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $14.03 by $6.36. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.25 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 288.35% and a net margin of 21.81%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $11.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 178.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $8.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Booking’s payout ratio is 26.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Booking from $3,950.00 to $4,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $3,950.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Monday, May 6th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $3,850.00 price target on shares of Booking in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Booking from $4,100.00 to $4,150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $4,220.00 to $4,230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,902.54.

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.