Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Reduces Position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 13.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 102,184 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 15,336 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Booking were worth $404,802,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $401,371,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Booking by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 32,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $113,827,000 after buying an additional 729 shares during the period. Commerce Bank grew its stake in shares of Booking by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 18,954 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $67,234,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Booking by 43.6% in the 4th quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 3,391 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,029,000 after buying an additional 1,030 shares during the period. Finally, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its stake in shares of Booking by 20.5% in the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 2,348 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,518,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BKNG. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,150.00 to $4,100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,950.00 to $3,750.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $4,350.00 to $4,200.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Booking in a research report on Friday, September 6th. They set a “hold” rating and a $4,100.00 price objective for the company. Finally, B. Riley lowered their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,900.00 to $4,650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $4,064.21.

Booking Price Performance

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $3,979.00 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $3,767.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $3,712.87. The company has a market capitalization of $133.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $2,733.04 and a 12 month high of $4,144.32.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $39.22 by $2.68. The firm had revenue of $5.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.77 billion. Booking had a net margin of 22.46% and a negative return on equity of 200.87%. The company’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $37.62 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total transaction of $3,050,737.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Booking news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total transaction of $3,050,737.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,887.61, for a total transaction of $388,761.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,787 shares in the company, valued at $14,722,379.07. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% 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.