Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Buys New Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 39,756 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,086,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BKNG. Magellan Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,400,000. Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Booking during the second quarter valued at $3,228,000. Kiltearn Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Booking during the second quarter valued at $3,503,000. Haverford Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter valued at $646,000. Finally, Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Booking in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,977,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, Director Robert J. Mylod, Jr. sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.70, for a total value of $206,700.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,100,500. This represents a 6.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Peter J. Millones sold 50,050 shares of Booking stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.59, for a total value of $10,389,879.50. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 375,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,851,439.75. This trade represents a 11.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 140,050 shares of company stock valued at $26,341,680. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on BKNG shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Booking from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Evercore set a $245.00 target price on Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $234.00 price target on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $220.00 price objective on Booking and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Booking from $244.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Booking has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.72.

Booking Stock Performance

NASDAQ BKNG opened at $209.62 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.07. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $150.14 and a 52 week high of $231.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $188.60 and a 200-day moving average of $176.84.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted 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 business had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.19 billion. Booking had a negative return on equity of 102.96% and a net margin of 25.53%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $55.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Booking’s payout ratio is currently 18.58%.

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.