E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Sells 45 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. cut its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 11.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 348 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 45 shares during the quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Booking were worth $1,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Naples Money Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Bourgeon Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Booking news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,485.00, for a total value of $1,045,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,752,005. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Paulo Pisano sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,485.00, for a total transaction of $1,045,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,752,005. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 28 shares of Booking stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,498.29, for a total transaction of $97,952.12. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $815,101.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,424 shares of company stock worth $18,673,145 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $3,450.00 to $4,200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Booking from $3,950.00 to $4,025.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Friday, May 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Booking from $3,080.00 to $3,610.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Booking from $4,100.00 to $4,150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Ten investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,876.96.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of Booking stock traded up $120.03 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $3,780.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 436,272 shares, compared to its average volume of 272,135. Booking Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $2,456.93 and a one year high of $3,918.00. The company has a market capitalization of $128.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $3,532.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $3,420.07.

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

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $8.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. 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.