Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Sells 91 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 12.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 645 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 91 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Booking were worth $2,204,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 383,996 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,184,224,000 after buying an additional 5,040 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd now owns 149,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $462,290,000 after buying an additional 4,048 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 28.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 131,052 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $466,166,000 after buying an additional 29,316 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 2,479.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 116,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $414,234,000 after buying an additional 112,249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the 4th quarter worth $3,774,850,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BKNG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. 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 research report on Friday, February 23rd. UBS Group raised their target price on Booking from $4,000.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Ascendiant Capital Markets raised their target price on Booking from $3,700.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 29th. Barclays decreased their target price on Booking from $3,900.00 to $3,800.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $3,850.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $3,723.41.

Booking Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of BKNG traded up $70.99 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $3,533.99. 151,805 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 270,866. The stock has a market cap of $120.76 billion, a PE ratio of 29.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $3,560.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3,378.24. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $2,456.93 and a 12 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $29.72 by $2.28. The firm had revenue of $4.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 751.49% and a net margin of 20.08%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $24.74 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 175.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,422.75, for a total transaction of $14,724,670.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 33,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $114,826,417. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, 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 transaction of $218,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,069,300. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were 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 directly owns 33,548 shares in the company, valued at $114,826,417. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,461 shares of company stock worth $18,815,825. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.