Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Purchases 6 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 270 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Van Leeuwen & Company LLC raised its stake in Booking by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Van Leeuwen & Company LLC now owns 487 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,727,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Booking by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 358 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,270,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the period. PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd increased its position 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in Booking by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 624 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,264,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ BKNG traded down $7.43 on Thursday, hitting $3,890.81. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 224,009 shares, compared to its average volume of 257,449. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $3,795.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3,695.08. The firm has a market cap of $132.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.18, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.38. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $2,733.04 and a 52-week high of $4,144.32.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $39.22 by $2.68. Booking had a net margin of 22.46% and a negative return on equity of 200.87%. The business had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $37.62 earnings per share. Booking’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Booking from $3,700.00 to $4,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,300.00 to $3,900.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of Booking from $4,285.00 to $4,580.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wedbush raised their target price on Booking from $3,850.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Booking from $4,025.00 to $3,860.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,068.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 24,721 shares in the company, valued at $100,556,375.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total transaction of $388,761.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,722,379.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.