Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 8.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 533 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 51 shares during the quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,934,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Booking by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,954,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,718,390,000 after acquiring an additional 12,456 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Booking during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,742,160,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Booking by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 376,734 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,336,362,000 after purchasing an additional 15,381 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in Booking by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 275,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $976,096,000 after purchasing an additional 9,419 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in Booking by 29.2% during the 1st quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 193,515 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $702,049,000 after purchasing an additional 43,743 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ:BKNG traded up $54.14 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $3,755.13. 186,133 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 249,093. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $2,733.04 and a 1-year high of $4,144.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.41 billion, a PE ratio of 28.29, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $3,887.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $3,687.63.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $14.03 by $6.36. Booking had a negative return on equity of 288.35% and a net margin of 21.81%. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $11.60 EPS. Booking’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 178.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were given a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 26.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Booking news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,437.25, for a total transaction of $75,619.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $649,640.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,437.25, for a total transaction of $75,619.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $649,640.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total value of $3,050,737.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,556,375.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 999 shares of company stock worth $3,939,187. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BKNG shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,285.00 to $4,580.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,200.00 to $4,342.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,950.00 to $4,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Benchmark raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4,700.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,056.31.

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.