Novare Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Novare Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 476 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 11 shares during the quarter. Novare Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $2,005,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Booking by 133.3% during the 2nd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 7 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 4 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BKNG shares. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Booking from $4,500.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Booking from $3,950.00 to $3,750.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $3,900.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,850.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eleven investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4,092.68.

Booking Price Performance

Booking stock traded up $9.76 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $4,294.49. 19,800 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 248,563. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $3,885.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $3,798.34. The company has a market capitalization of $145.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.13, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $2,733.04 and a 12-month high of $4,328.54.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $39.22 by $2.68. The company had revenue of $5.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.77 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 200.87% and a net margin of 22.46%. Booking’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $37.62 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Booking’s payout ratio is 26.25%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total value of $388,761.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,722,379.07. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.12% 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.