Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Takes Position in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,523 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $19,043,000. Booking comprises about 0.4% of Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Elgethun Capital Management boosted its position in Booking by 2.1% in the third quarter. Elgethun Capital Management now owns 97 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $517,000 after buying an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 3.4% during the third quarter. First Western Trust Bank now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $324,000 after buying an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. CGN Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Booking by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. CGN Advisors LLC now owns 57 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $305,000 after buying an additional 2 shares in the last quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 140 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $750,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Traynor Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Booking by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,003,000 after acquiring an additional 2 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of Booking stock opened at $184.56 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $143.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $168.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $181.93. Booking Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $150.14 and a fifty-two week high of $233.58.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. Booking’s revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Booking’s payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total transaction of $10,229,375.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 425,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,572,025.25. This represents a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.00, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 16,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,081,600. This represents a 6.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 80,351 shares of company stock worth $13,545,706 over the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BKNG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. B. Riley Financial decreased their price target on Booking from $272.00 to $264.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective (down from $240.00) on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Booking from $224.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Argus raised their target price on Booking from $188.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $195.00 price target on Booking in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $227.11.

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.