Everence Capital Management Inc. Has $3.41 Million Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Everence Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 15.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 960 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 180 shares during the quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Booking were worth $3,405,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 684.3% during the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,051 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,823,000 after buying an additional 2,662 shares during the last quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 5,408 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $19,183,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Research LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Main Street Research LLC now owns 7,347 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,061,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Suncoast Equity Management lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Suncoast Equity Management now owns 11,065 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,250,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Booking by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 591 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,096,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,069,300. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total value of $14,724,670.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 33,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $114,826,417. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total value of $218,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,069,300. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,689 shares of company stock valued at $16,086,423 over the last 90 days. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Booking Stock Performance

Booking stock traded down $17.86 on Tuesday, reaching $3,467.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 210,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 276,908. The company has a market cap of $118.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.55, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.40. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $3,595.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $3,360.99. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $2,456.93 and a twelve month high of $3,918.00.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $32.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $29.72 by $2.28. Booking had a negative return on equity of 751.49% and a net margin of 20.08%. The business had revenue of $4.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $24.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 175.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

BKNG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Booking from $3,600.00 to $4,100.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Edward Jones restated a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $3,850.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Booking from $3,080.00 to $3,610.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average 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.