M&T Bank Corp Buys 31 Shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,067 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Booking were worth $46,352,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Booking by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 15,301 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,188,000 after acquiring an additional 1,236 shares during the period. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Booking by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 4,390 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,539,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Booking by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $57,635,000 after buying an additional 470 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp bought a new stake in Booking in the 4th quarter valued at about $24,841,000. Finally, Advisor Resource Council raised its stake in Booking by 382.4% during the 4th quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 357 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,266,000 after buying an additional 283 shares during the period. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG traded up $104.47 during trading on Friday, reaching $3,577.38. 534,715 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 200,734. The company has a 50-day moving average of $3,524.43 and a 200-day moving average of $3,399.84. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $2,456.93 and a 52-week high of $3,918.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.40.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $20.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $14.03 by $6.36. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.25 billion. Booking had a net margin of 21.81% and a negative return on equity of 433.49%. The company’s revenue was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $11.60 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a $8.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 26.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total value of $218,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,069,300. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 59 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,700.00, for a total value of $218,300.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,069,300. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,534.10, for a total transaction of $2,650,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 26,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,318,211.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,483 shares of company stock valued at $18,891,445 in the last 90 days. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on Booking from $3,900.00 to $3,950.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Seaport Res Ptn restated a “buy” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,600.00 to $3,950.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a research report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $4,205.00 target price (up previously from $4,150.00) on shares of Booking in a report on Friday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,823.00.

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.