Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Acquired by Capital Research Global Investors

Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 194.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 171,849 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 113,502 shares during the quarter. Capital Research Global Investors’ holdings in Booking were worth $920,308,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the third quarter worth $26,000. Daytona Street Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Camelot Portfolios LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Strive Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Booking during the third quarter worth $27,000. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total transaction of $10,229,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 425,075 shares in the company, valued at $69,572,025.25. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total transaction of $3,100,331.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,269,532.64. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 97,076 shares of company stock worth $16,417,121 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Booking from $210.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Booking from $230.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price (up from $244.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Barclays set a $210.00 target price on shares of Booking and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $195.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booking currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.14.

Booking Price Performance

BKNG opened at $165.84 on Monday. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $150.14 and a twelve month high of $233.58. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $169.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.97. The company has a market cap of $128.51 billion, a PE ratio of 21.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.08.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.06. Booking had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 117.14%. The firm had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.99 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is 22.11%.

About Booking

Booking Holdings Inc is a global online travel company that operates a portfolio of consumer brands and technology platforms that facilitate the search for and booking of travel services. The company’s businesses focus on accommodations, transportation and related travel services through consumer-facing websites and apps as well as partner distribution channels. Booking Holdings was originally founded as Priceline in the late 1990s and adopted the Booking Holdings name in 2018; it is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Its core offerings include online reservations for hotels, vacation rentals and other lodging; flight and car rental search and booking; and ancillary services that support travel planning and on-property experiences.