Boston Trust Walden Corp Lowers Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Boston Trust Walden Corp cut its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 11.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,541 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,180 shares during the quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp’s holdings in Booking were worth $51,514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its holdings in Booking by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 511 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,958,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in shares of Booking by 18.6% in the second quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 75,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $437,284,000 after buying an additional 11,829 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 67.3% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $174,893,000 after buying an additional 12,148 shares during the period. Covey Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Booking by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Covey Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,467,000 after buying an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc grew its stake in Booking by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 2,291 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,262,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 40 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,800,000. The trade was a 4.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,000.00, for a total transaction of $1,000,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 1,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,570,000. The trade was a 11.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,324 shares of company stock worth $17,193,557. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,450.00 to $6,630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Bank of America raised shares of Booking from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $6,000.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on Booking from $6,200.00 to $6,400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, UBS Group set a $6,806.00 target price on Booking and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6,149.23.

Booking Trading Up 0.0%

BKNG stock opened at $5,441.33 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $175.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.37, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $5,113.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5,370.05. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $4,096.23 and a 12 month high of $5,839.41.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.86% and a net margin of 19.37%.The business had revenue of $9.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $83.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 is Friday, December 5th. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 24.96%.

Booking Profile

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.