Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 15,336 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 13.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 102,184 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 15,336 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 0.30% of Booking worth $404,802,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rathbones Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 5.2% during the second quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 44,302 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $175,502,000 after acquiring an additional 2,176 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Booking by 13.3% during the second quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 1,550 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,140,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Poehling Capital Management INC. bought a new stake in shares of Booking during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,137,000. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 40.9% during the second quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,972,000 after acquiring an additional 364 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 3.4% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 60,861 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $241,100,000 after acquiring an additional 1,987 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 24,721 shares in the company, valued at $100,556,375.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 3,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,722,379.07. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total transaction of $3,050,737.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday, September 6th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $4,100.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI reduced 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 research note on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $4,350.00 to $4,200.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,700.00 to $4,600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Booking has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,064.21.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $3,979.00 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $133.38 billion, a PE ratio of 29.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a fifty day moving average of $3,767.65 and a 200 day moving average of $3,712.87. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $2,733.04 and a 1 year high of $4,144.32.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

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 given a $8.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.25%.

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.