Evergreen Wealth Management LLC Buys 9 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Evergreen Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 268 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 9 shares during the period. Evergreen Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $950,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Booking by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 15,301 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,188,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236 shares during the last quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Booking by 0.6% during the third quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 4,390 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,539,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in Booking by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $57,635,000 after buying an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp purchased a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter worth about $24,841,000. Finally, Advisor Resource Council lifted its stake in Booking by 382.4% during the 4th quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 357 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,266,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $3,080.00 to $3,610.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $4,205.00 target price (up previously from $4,150.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Friday. Barclays cut their price target on Booking from $3,900.00 to $3,800.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,600.00 to $4,100.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Booking currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $3,823.00.

Insider Activity at Booking

In other Booking 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 owns 289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,069,300. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Booking news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of Booking 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,069,300. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total transaction of $14,724,670.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 33,548 shares in the company, valued at $114,826,417. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,483 shares of company stock worth $18,891,445. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of BKNG stock traded up $104.47 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $3,577.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 534,715 shares, compared to its average volume of 200,734. The stock has a market cap of $121.70 billion, a PE ratio of 26.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $3,524.43 and a 200 day moving average of $3,406.68.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $14.03 by $6.36. The company had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.25 billion. Booking had a net margin of 21.81% and a negative return on equity of 433.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $11.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

About Booking

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.