Columbia Trust Co 01012016 Purchases 8 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Columbia Trust Co 01012016 lifted its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 142 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8 shares during the quarter. Columbia Trust Co 01012016’s holdings in Booking were worth $504,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter worth $1,068,137,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Booking by 1.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 383,996 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,184,224,000 after buying an additional 5,040 shares during the period. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd grew its position in Booking by 2.9% during the second quarter. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd now owns 314,655 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $849,672,000 after buying an additional 8,896 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in Booking by 61.6% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 295,891 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $596,303,000 after buying an additional 112,831 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Booking by 2.6% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 217,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $510,828,000 after buying an additional 5,506 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $3,673.50 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $3,580.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3,314.29. The company has a market capitalization of $125.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $2,456.93 and a 1-year high of $3,918.00.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $32.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $29.72 by $2.28. The business had revenue of $4.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. Booking had a net margin of 20.08% and a negative return on equity of 751.49%. Booking’s quarterly revenue was up 18.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $24.74 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 175.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th will be given a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 7th. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 29.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,493.71, for a total transaction of $2,620,282.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 34,888 shares in the company, valued at $121,888,554.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,493.71, for a total value of $2,620,282.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 34,888 shares in the company, valued at $121,888,554.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total transaction of $218,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,069,300. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,467 shares of company stock worth $22,299,114 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on BKNG. StockNews.com lowered shares of Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Booking from $3,855.00 to $4,285.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Booking from $3,080.00 to $3,610.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Booking from $3,600.00 to $4,100.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Booking from $3,548.00 to $3,435.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,697.38.

About Booking

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.