Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG Shares Purchased by Liontrust Investment Partners LLP

Liontrust Investment Partners LLP raised its position in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 368.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,479 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,106 shares during the quarter. Booking makes up approximately 1.7% of Liontrust Investment Partners LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP owned 0.06% of Booking worth $118,558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Booking by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 251 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,249,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Booking in the fourth quarter worth $209,000. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its position in shares of Booking by 110.8% during the first quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 196 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $903,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Booking by 118.9% in the first quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 2,119 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,765,000 after acquiring an additional 1,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trivium Point Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Booking by 21.6% in the first quarter. Trivium Point Advisory LLC now owns 90 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $415,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In related news, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,820.35, for a total value of $2,135,415.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 22,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $106,775,572.85. This represents a 1.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,030.00, for a total value of $75,450.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 717 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,510. This represents a 2.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 3,388 shares of company stock valued at $17,629,822 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BKNG shares. Gordon Haskett upped their price target on Booking from $5,620.00 to $5,710.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial set a $5,810.00 target price on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $6,150.00 price target on shares of Booking in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Booking in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Booking from $6,723.00 to $6,790.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6,149.23.

Booking Trading Up 0.4%

BKNG stock opened at $5,301.64 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $170.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.46, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.25. Booking Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $4,096.23 and a twelve month high of $5,839.41. The company’s 50 day moving average is $5,061.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5,378.89.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $99.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $95.56 by $3.94. Booking had a net margin of 19.37% and a negative return on equity of 134.86%. The firm had revenue of $9.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.71 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $83.39 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Booking Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $9.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Booking’s payout ratio is 24.96%.

Booking Company Profile

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.