Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) Shares Purchased by Aubrey Capital Management Ltd

Aubrey Capital Management Ltd boosted its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 42.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Booking makes up about 1.5% of Aubrey Capital Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Aubrey Capital Management Ltd’s holdings in Booking were worth $3,545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BKNG. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 2,479.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 116,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $414,234,000 after buying an additional 112,249 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter valued at $3,774,850,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 139.8% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 65,179 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $201,166,000 after buying an additional 37,994 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 41.8% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 101,736 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $317,313,000 after buying an additional 30,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rathbones Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 161.5% in the third quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 39,215 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $120,937,000 after buying an additional 24,219 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of Booking stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,583.07, for a total transaction of $78,827.54. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $756,027.77. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Booking news, Director Radakovich Lynn Vojvodich sold 22 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 211 shares in the company, valued at $756,027.77. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paulo Pisano sold 300 shares of Booking 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 owns 4,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,752,005. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,461 shares of company stock valued at $18,815,825 over the last three months. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BKNG traded up $18.60 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $3,521.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 146,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 193,606. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.85, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $3,547.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3,383.62. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,456.93 and a fifty-two week high of $3,918.00.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $32.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $29.72 by $2.28. Booking had a negative return on equity of 751.49% and a net margin of 20.08%. The company had revenue of $4.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.71 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $24.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 176.1 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $8.75 per share. This represents a $35.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on BKNG. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Booking from $3,550.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Booking from $3,548.00 to $3,435.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Booking from $3,080.00 to $3,610.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Booking from $3,900.00 to $3,800.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Booking from $3,600.00 to $3,950.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,723.41.

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.