Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC Purchases 11 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 7.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 159 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the quarter. Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $630,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its stake in Booking by 133.3% in the second quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 7 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 4 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Booking in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Booking in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Booking in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG traded down $41.68 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $3,731.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 283,139 shares, compared to its average volume of 257,314. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,733.04 and a fifty-two week high of $4,144.32. The company has a market cap of $125.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.40. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $3,773.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3,699.80.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $37.62 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $8.75 dividend. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Booking’s payout ratio is 26.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total transaction of $3,050,737.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 3,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Booking from $3,850.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,275.00 to $4,105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $4,350.00 to $4,200.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Booking from $4,000.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Eleven 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,064.21.

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.