Virtu Financial LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Virtu Financial LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 58.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 654 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 935 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in Booking were worth $2,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Booking by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,954,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,718,390,000 after acquiring an additional 12,456 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Booking by 4.5% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 514,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,865,949,000 after purchasing an additional 21,969 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Booking by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 376,656 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,336,085,000 after purchasing an additional 15,303 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its holdings in Booking by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 358,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,421,069,000 after purchasing an additional 10,889 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC raised 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 valued at $976,096,000 after purchasing an additional 9,419 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BKNG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Booking from $4,275.00 to $4,105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Benchmark cut their target price on shares of Booking from $4,700.00 to $4,600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Booking from $4,600.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $4,350.00 to $4,200.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Booking from $4,300.00 to $3,900.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $4,064.21.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $4,042.43 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $3,768.95 and a 200 day moving average of $3,716.69. 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 $135.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.40.

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

Booking Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Booking’s payout ratio is 26.25%.

Booking 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.