CENTRAL TRUST Co Raises Stock Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 363 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 22 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,530,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BKNG. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its position in Booking by 31.2% during the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 265 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $962,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 4.4% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $21,859,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Booking during the first quarter valued at approximately $87,000. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its position in Booking by 13.8% during the first quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in Booking in the first quarter valued at approximately $209,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Booking

In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total transaction of $388,761.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,722,379.07. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKNG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $3,590.00 target price on shares of Booking in a report on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,500.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,150.00 to $4,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho raised their target price on Booking from $4,250.00 to $4,800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price target on Booking from $3,950.00 to $5,000.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $4,256.89.

Booking Trading Up 0.2 %

Booking stock opened at $4,347.82 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $4,043.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $3,842.18. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $2,733.04 and a 12-month high of $4,395.00. The stock has a market cap of $145.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.44, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 negative return on equity of 200.87% and a net margin of 22.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $37.62 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 177.17 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Booking’s payout ratio is 24.50%.

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.