New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,648 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,511 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.17% of Booking worth $211,585,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 76 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares during the period. RWA Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 62.9% during the fourth quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 233 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $827,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Monument Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 733 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,600,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 61.8% during the fourth quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,761,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in shares of Booking by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 10,723 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,037,000 after acquiring an additional 573 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on BKNG shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Booking from $4,000.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $3,080.00 to $3,610.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Booking from $3,900.00 to $3,800.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $3,450.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Ascendiant Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $3,700.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,723.41.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG traded up $48.18 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $3,463.00. 202,324 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 272,412. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $3,564.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3,374.83. The company has a market cap of $118.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.35, a PEG ratio of 1.04 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 quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $4.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 751.49% and a net margin of 20.08%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $24.74 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 175.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.67%.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,534.10, for a total transaction of $2,650,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 26,971 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,318,211.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,534.10, for a total transaction of $2,650,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 26,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,318,211.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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 dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total value of $218,300.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,069,300. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,461 shares of company stock worth $18,815,825 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

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.