South Dakota Investment Council Sells 130 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

South Dakota Investment Council lowered its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 20.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 502 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 130 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Naples Money Management LLC bought a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Bourgeon Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of Booking stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,069,300. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of Booking stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,069,300. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 300 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,485.00, for a total value of $1,045,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,752,005. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 5,461 shares of company stock worth $18,815,825. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG opened at $3,517.52 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $120.19 billion, a PE ratio of 29.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,456.93 and a fifty-two week high of $3,918.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $3,555.99 and a 200-day moving average of $3,379.22.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $32.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $29.72 by $2.28. The company had revenue of $4.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.71 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 751.49% and a net margin of 20.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $24.74 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 175.86 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a $8.75 dividend. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Edward Jones restated a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, February 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Booking from $3,550.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Barclays dropped their target price on Booking from $3,900.00 to $3,800.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Booking from $3,560.00 to $3,950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Booking from $3,450.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,723.41.

Booking Company 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.