Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 849,400 shares, a growth of 14.5% from the May 31st total of 741,900 shares. Currently, 2.5% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 224,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In related news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 227 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,580.75, for a total value of $812,830.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 4,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,157,314.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,583.07, for a total value of $78,827.54. Following the transaction, the director now owns 211 shares in the company, valued at $756,027.77. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 227 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,580.75, for a total value of $812,830.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,157,314.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,021 shares of company stock valued at $3,617,852 in the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Booking

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Marcum Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 19.5% during the 2nd quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 92 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $365,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its position in Booking by 2.7% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 4,259 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,872,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Booking by 53.2% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 314 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,244,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Booking by 77.6% in the 2nd quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 103 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Booking by 24.6% during the 2nd quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 86 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Booking stock traded up $19.93 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $3,936.14. The stock had a trading volume of 18,820 shares, compared to its average volume of 253,158. Booking has a 12 month low of $2,624.50 and a 12 month high of $4,040.00. The firm has a market cap of $133.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.38. The business’s 50-day moving average is $3,768.17 and its 200 day moving average is $3,629.72.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $11.60 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Booking will post 178.54 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $8.75 dividend. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BKNG. StockNews.com raised shares of Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Erste Group Bank raised Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Booking from $3,800.00 to $4,500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $4,205.00 price target (up from $4,150.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,902.54.

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.