Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Sold by Confluence Investment Management LLC

Confluence Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 22.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,519 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,937 shares during the quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $35,198,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Booking by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 5 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares during the period. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in Booking in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank increased its stake in shares of Booking by 100.0% in the second quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Booking news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,362.00, for a total transaction of $80,430.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,764,124. This represents a 2.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,414.53, for a total transaction of $3,091,696.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 21,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $113,759,275.30. The trade was a 2.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,324 shares of company stock valued at $17,193,557. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG stock opened at $5,406.99 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $174.27 billion, a PE ratio of 35.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.25. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $4,096.23 and a 12 month high of $5,839.41. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $5,080.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5,372.85.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $95.56 by $3.94. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The company had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $83.39 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $9.60 per share. This represents a $38.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on BKNG shares. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Truist Financial set a $5,810.00 price target on Booking in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. BNP Paribas set a $6,100.00 price target on Booking in a report on Monday, November 24th. Gordon Haskett increased their target price on shares of Booking from $5,620.00 to $5,710.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $6,200.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6,149.23.

About Booking

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.