Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 9 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $32,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 8.8% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 15,301 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,188,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236 shares during the period. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Booking by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 4,390 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,539,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC grew its position in Booking by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $57,635,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp acquired a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at $24,841,000. Finally, Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $879,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BKNG. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $3,850.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,000.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Edward Jones restated a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Booking from $3,600.00 to $4,100.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $3,844.48.

Booking Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of BKNG traded up $7.00 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $3,605.41. 266,281 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 270,239. The stock has a market capitalization of $122.33 billion, a PE ratio of 27.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $3,528.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3,418.38. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,456.93 and a fifty-two week high of $3,918.00.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $14.03 by $6.36. The company had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.25 billion. Booking had a net margin of 21.81% and a negative return on equity of 288.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $11.60 EPS. Research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Booking

In other Booking 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 value of $218,300.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,069,300. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 4,302 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were 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 directly owns 33,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,826,417. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 289 shares in the company, valued at $1,069,300. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,483 shares of company stock worth $18,891,445. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by 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.