Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Makes New $32,000 Investment in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 8 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $32,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Booking by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,954,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,718,390,000 after buying an additional 12,456 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 4.5% during 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 during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $1,742,160,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 376,734 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,336,362,000 after purchasing an additional 15,381 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Booking by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 275,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $976,096,000 after purchasing an additional 9,419 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BKNG shares. Argus raised their price target on Booking from $4,200.00 to $4,342.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Booking from $3,497.00 to $3,976.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Booking from $4,500.00 to $4,200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Bank of America dropped their target price on Booking from $3,950.00 to $3,750.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Booking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $4,068.32.

Insider Activity at Booking

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,067.65, for a total value of $3,050,737.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 24,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,556,375.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ BKNG traded up $33.65 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $3,417.08. 428,771 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 259,786. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $2,733.04 and a 12 month high of $4,144.32. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $3,863.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $3,691.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.93 billion, a PE ratio of 25.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.38.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $41.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $39.22 by $2.68. Booking had a negative return on equity of 237.46% and a net margin of 22.46%. The company had revenue of $5.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $37.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 178.9 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $8.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $35.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.