Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Sold by Aspen Grove Capital LLC

Aspen Grove Capital LLC lowered its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 54.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,973 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7,000 shares during the period. Booking comprises 4.9% of Aspen Grove Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Aspen Grove Capital LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $25,148,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BKNG. Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Booking during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Daytona Street Capital LLC bought a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Camelot Portfolios LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Booking from $230.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Booking from $248.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target (up from $244.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Booking from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total value of $10,229,375.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 425,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,572,025.25. The trade was a 12.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

BKNG opened at $172.83 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $133.92 billion, a PE ratio of 22.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $171.52 and its 200-day moving average is $178.12. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $150.14 and a one year high of $231.80.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 117.14% and a net margin of 22.23%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.99 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.11%.

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.