Montag A & Associates Inc. Increases Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 590 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8 shares during the period. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $2,093,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Bourgeon Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total transaction of $14,724,670.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 33,548 shares in the company, valued at $114,826,417. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total value of $14,724,670.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 33,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,826,417. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,583.07, for a total transaction of $78,827.54. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $756,027.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,651 shares of company stock worth $19,485,975. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on BKNG shares. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,450.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. HSBC upped their price objective on Booking from $4,220.00 to $4,230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Booking from $4,100.00 to $4,150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,876.96.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG stock traded up $120.03 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $3,780.03. 437,013 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 272,135. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $3,532.23 and its 200-day moving average is $3,420.07. The company has a market cap of $128.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.35, a PEG 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.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $14.03 by $6.36. Booking had a net margin of 21.81% and a negative return on equity of 288.35%. The company had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $11.60 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

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.