Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Position Boosted by Westover Capital Advisors LLC

Westover Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 64.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 178 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the quarter. Westover Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $631,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Booking by 2,479.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 116,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $414,234,000 after acquiring an additional 112,249 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,774,850,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Booking by 139.8% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 65,179 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $201,166,000 after buying an additional 37,994 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Booking by 41.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 101,736 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $317,313,000 after buying an additional 30,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rathbones Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Booking by 161.5% in the 3rd quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 39,215 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $120,937,000 after buying an additional 24,219 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKNG has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on Booking from $4,000.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Booking from $3,600.00 to $3,950.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. B. Riley initiated coverage on Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $4,400.00 price target for the company. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $3,850.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com cut Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,723.41.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG traded up $40.91 on Thursday, reaching $3,456.55. 282,779 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 263,850. The firm has a market cap of $117.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $2,456.93 and a 12 month high of $3,918.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $3,531.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $3,395.06.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $32.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $29.72 by $2.28. The firm had revenue of $4.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. Booking had a net margin of 20.08% and a negative return on equity of 751.49%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $24.74 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 29.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total value of $218,300.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,069,300. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total value of $218,300.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,069,300. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,534.10, for a total transaction of $2,650,575.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 26,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,318,211.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,461 shares of company stock worth $18,815,825 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Booking 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.