Spire Wealth Management Has $1.33 Million Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Spire Wealth Management grew its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 22.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 366 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the quarter. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,325,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Evergreen Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Booking by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Evergreen Wealth Management LLC now owns 268 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $950,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 19,600.0% during the fourth quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 197 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $699,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp lifted its holdings in Booking by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 93 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. AJOVista LLC acquired a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $145,000. Finally, VeraBank N.A. increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 113 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BKNG shares. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Booking from $4,100.00 to $4,150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price target 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 increased their price objective on Booking from $3,080.00 to $3,610.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $4,205.00 target price (up previously from $4,150.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $3,850.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3,844.48.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG opened at $3,605.41 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $122.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $2,456.93 and a 52 week high of $3,918.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $3,528.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3,418.38.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $14.03 by $6.36. The company had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.25 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 288.35% and a net margin of 21.81%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $11.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,485.00, for a total transaction of $1,045,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 4,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,752,005. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 28 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,498.29, for a total value of $97,952.12. Following the transaction, the director now owns 233 shares in the company, valued at $815,101.57. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, 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 90 days, insiders sold 5,424 shares of company stock valued at $18,673,145. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.