Soltis Investment Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 135 Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Soltis Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 135 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $488,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BKNG. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Booking by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,954,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,718,390,000 after buying an additional 12,456 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in Booking by 4.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 514,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,865,949,000 after purchasing an additional 21,969 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Booking during the fourth quarter worth $1,742,160,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Booking by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 376,734 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,336,362,000 after purchasing an additional 15,381 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 275,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $976,096,000 after buying an additional 9,419 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,500.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $4,205.00 target price (up previously from $4,150.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $3,950.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Booking from $4,285.00 to $4,580.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,039.73.

Booking Trading Down 9.2 %

BKNG stock traded down $336.05 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $3,328.13. 801,623 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 242,833. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $3,872.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $3,689.37. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $2,733.04 and a 12-month high of $4,144.32.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $39.22 by $2.68. The firm had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.77 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.46% and a negative return on equity of 237.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $37.62 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 178.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In related news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 227 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,580.75, for a total transaction of $812,830.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,157,314.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total value of $3,050,737.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,556,375.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 227 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,580.75, for a total value of $812,830.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,157,314.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.