SYM FINANCIAL Corp Boosts Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

SYM FINANCIAL Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 12.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 93 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. SYM FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Booking were worth $330,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AJOVista LLC bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter worth about $145,000. VeraBank N.A. boosted its stake in Booking by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 113 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Booking by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 101 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,115,000. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 37.8% in the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 197 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $699,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In related news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,437.25, for a total transaction of $75,619.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $649,640.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,485.00, for a total value of $1,045,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 4,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,752,005. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,437.25, for a total value of $75,619.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $649,640.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 5,483 shares of company stock valued at $18,891,445. Corporate insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BKNG has been the topic of several research reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,580.00 to $4,250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $3,950.00 to $4,025.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $4,205.00 price target (up from $4,150.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Friday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,823.00.

Booking Trading Up 3.0 %

BKNG traded up $104.47 on Friday, hitting $3,577.38. 534,715 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 200,734. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $3,524.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3,399.84. The firm has a market cap of $121.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $2,456.93 and a one year high of $3,918.00.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $14.03 by $6.36. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.25 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 433.49% and a net margin of 21.81%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $11.60 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.25%.

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.