Cardano Risk Management B.V. Sells 197,407 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Cardano Risk Management B.V. reduced its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 90.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 20,673 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 197,407 shares during the period. Cardano Risk Management B.V.’s holdings in Booking were worth $87,039,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Booking by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 251 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,249,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth $209,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 25.0% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $955,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Booking by 50.0% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 87 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $504,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the second quarter valued at about $179,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Booking from $210.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Booking from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $175.00 price objective (down from $180.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Evercore set a $245.00 price objective on Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their target price on Booking from $240.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total transaction of $216,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 16,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,081,600. This trade represents a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total value of $3,100,331.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,269,532.64. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 80,351 shares of company stock valued at $13,545,706 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG opened at $180.84 on Thursday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $150.14 and a fifty-two week high of $233.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.79, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s 50-day moving average is $169.23 and its 200 day moving average is $182.94.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.52 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 117.14%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

Booking Profile

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel company that operates a portfolio of consumer brands and technology platforms that facilitate the search for and booking of travel services. The company’s businesses focus on accommodations, transportation and related travel services through consumer-facing websites and apps as well as partner distribution channels. Booking Holdings was originally founded as Priceline in the late 1990s and adopted the Booking Holdings name in 2018; it is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Its core offerings include online reservations for hotels, vacation rentals and other lodging; flight and car rental search and booking; and ancillary services that support travel planning and on-property experiences.