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

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 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 largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BKNG. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new position in shares of Booking in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Daytona Street Capital LLC acquired a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Legacy Bridge LLC acquired a new position in Booking in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Camelot Portfolios LLC bought a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Osbon Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Booking during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Institutional investors own 92.42% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group upped their price target on Booking from $259.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. TD Cowen reissued 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 decreased their price objective on shares of Booking from $210.00 to $202.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Booking from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Booking from $244.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Booking currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.11.

Booking Price Performance

Shares of Booking stock opened at $184.56 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $143.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50-day moving average of $168.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $181.93. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $150.14 and a 1 year high of $233.58.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The business services provider reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.06. Booking had a negative return on equity of 117.14% and a net margin of 22.23%.The business had revenue of $5.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. Booking’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 10.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Booking’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Booking

In other news, VP Peter J. Millones sold 62,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.67, for a total transaction of $10,229,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Glenn D. Fogel sold 16,726 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.36, for a total transaction of $3,100,331.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 298,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,269,532.64. This represents a 5.31% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 80,351 shares of company stock valued at $13,545,706. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.