First Bancorp Inc ME Has $316,000 Holdings in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

First Bancorp Inc ME lessened its stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 3.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 87 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3 shares during the period. First Bancorp Inc ME’s holdings in Booking were worth $316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BKNG. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Booking during the 4th quarter valued at $1,742,160,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Booking by 2,479.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 116,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $414,234,000 after acquiring an additional 112,249 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the 1st quarter valued at $401,371,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter worth $3,774,850,000. Finally, BlueSpruce Investments LP acquired a new position in Booking in the 4th quarter worth $220,080,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BKNG shares. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Booking in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,435.00 to $3,494.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Argus lifted their price target 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. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Booking from $3,900.00 to $3,950.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Booking from $4,100.00 to $4,150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $3,902.54.

Insider Activity at Booking

In related news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,583.07, for a total transaction of $78,827.54. Following the transaction, the director now owns 211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $756,027.77. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Booking news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,583.07, for a total value of $78,827.54. Following the sale, the director now owns 211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $756,027.77. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was 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 directly owns 26,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,318,211.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,021 shares of company stock valued at $3,617,852. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Booking Stock Performance

NASDAQ BKNG traded down $32.00 on Wednesday, hitting $3,982.38. The stock had a trading volume of 164,127 shares, compared to its average volume of 255,315. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $3,726.45 and a 200-day moving average of $3,614.06. The company has a market capitalization of $135.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.40. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $2,624.50 and a 52-week high of $4,033.00.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its earnings results 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. Booking had a net margin of 21.81% and a negative return on equity of 288.35%. The company had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $11.60 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 178.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

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.