Flossbach Von Storch SE Buys Shares of 259,026 Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Flossbach Von Storch SE purchased a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 259,026 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $46,169,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 112 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $600,000 after purchasing an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in Booking by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $700,000 after buying an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 13 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its stake in shares of Booking by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 377 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,019,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its holdings in shares of Booking by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 53 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $284,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $215.00 target price on Booking and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Booking from $224.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Booking from $266.00 to $274.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.72.

Booking Stock Performance

Shares of BKNG stock opened at $213.00 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $160.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.57, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.12. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $150.14 and a 52 week high of $231.80.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The business services provider reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $7.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.19 billion. Booking had a net margin of 25.53% and a negative return on equity of 102.96%. The company’s revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $55.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 EPS for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.58%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,200,000. The trade was a 23.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 16,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,169,536. This represents a 6.38% 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 have sold 140,050 shares of company stock valued at $26,341,680 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Key Booking News

Here are the key news stories impacting Booking this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Booking’s KAYAK brand reported that international airfares for U.K. travelers in September and October are averaging 26% below peak-season levels. Cheaper “shoulder-season” travel could encourage additional bookings and support demand across Booking’s accommodation and travel platforms. KAYAK shoulder-season travel research
• Positive Sentiment: Recent fundamentals remain supportive. Booking’s latest quarterly revenue rose 8.1% year over year to $7.35 billion and earnings exceeded analyst expectations. Analysts maintain a broadly favorable view, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $235.72, above recent trading levels. Booking growth-stock analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Booking declared a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, or $1.68 annually, representing an approximately 0.8% yield. The payout signals ongoing shareholder returns but is modest and is unlikely to materially affect the stock’s near-term direction.
• Negative Sentiment: Booking Vice President Peter Millones sold 50,050 shares worth approximately $10.4 million, reducing his position by 11.77%. Director Vanessa Ames Wittman separately sold 375 shares for about $79,000. Both transactions were executed under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, reducing their significance as bearish signals; Millones still retains roughly $77.9 million in BKNG stock. Booking insider share sales

Booking Company Profile

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.